LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


APPLETON  DOLLAR  LIBRARY 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

IN    TWO    VOLUMES 

VOLUME  I 


Other  Volumes  in  the  Same  Form^at 

ABENDSCHEIN,  ALBERT — The  Secret  of  The  Old  Masters 

ANDERSON.    ROBERT    E. — The    Story   of   Extinct    Civilizations    of    The 

East  and  West 
BARTON,   CLARA — A  Story  of  The  Red  Cross 

BELLAMY,   EDWARD Equality 

BEVERIDGE,   ALBERT  J. — The  Young  Man   and  The  World 

BULLEN,   FRANK  T. — The  Cruise  of  The  Cachalot 

CAINE.   HALL — The  Bondman 

COTES,   MRS.   EVERARD — The  Story  of  Sonny  Sahib 

CROCKETT,  S.  R. — The  Lilac  Sunbonnet 

DRAPER,     JOHN    WILLIAM — The    History    of    The    Conflict    Bctwcea 

Religion    and   Science 
FITZMAURICE-KELLY,    JAMES — A    History    of   Spanish    Literature 
FLANDRAU,   CHARLES   MACOMB — Viva   Mexico! 
GARNETT.   RICHARD — A  History  of  Italian  Literature 
GOODRICH,    ARTHUR    AND    PALMER,    ROSE   A. — Caponsacchi 
GOSSE,  Edmund — A  History  of  Modern  English  Literature 
GRAS,  FELIX — The  Reds  of  The  Midi 
GRAS,   FELIX — The   Terror 
GROSSE,  ERNST — The  Beginnings  of  Art 

GUIZOT,  FRANCOIS  PIERRE — General  History  of  Civilization  in  Europe 
HERDON,  W.  H.  AND  WEIKE,  JESSE  W. — Abraham  Lincoln    (2  vols.) 
HOUGH.   EMERSON — The  Covered  Wagon 
HUDSON,  JAY  WILLIAM — Abbe  Pierre 
KOUNS,   NATHAN  C. — Arius  The  Libyan 
LANE,    ELINOR   MACARTNEY — Nancy   Stair 
LECKY,   W.   E.   H. — The   French   Revolution 
LINCOLN,  JOSEPH  C. — Cape  Cod  Ballads  and  Other  Verse 
MAARTENS,  MAARTEN — God's  Fool 
MACKENZIE,   COMPTON — Carnival 

Marquis,  Don — Noah  an'  Jonah  an'   Cap'n  John  Smith 
MAUROIS,   ANDRE — Ariel:    The  Life  of  Shelley 
MOORE.  GEORGE — Evelyn  Innes 

MURRAY,  Gilbert — A  History  of  Ancient  Greek  Literature 
PARKER,  Sir  gilbert — The  Seats  of  The  Mighty 
PHILLIPS,  DAVID  GRAHAM — The  Second  Generation 
SEASHORE,   CARL  EMIL — Psychology  in  Daily  Life 
SERVISS.  GARRETT  P. — Other  Worlds 
SNAITH,  J.  C. — The  Sailor 
SPENCER,    HERBERT — Education:    Intellectual,   Moral   and   Physical 

STANTON,    FRANK  L. Songs  of  the   Soil 

THOMAS,  CALVIN — A  History  of  German  Literature 
WALISZEWSKL  K. — A  History  of  Russian  Literature 
WATERHOUSE,  P.  LESLIE — The  Story  of  The  Art  of  Building 
WESTCOTT,  EDWARD  NOYES — David  Harum 
WHARTON,  EDITH — The  Reef 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

The  True. Story  of  a  Great  Life 
BY 

WILLIAM  H.  HERNDON 
and  JESSE  W.  WEIK 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 
HORACE  WHITE 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOL.  I 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK  LONDON 

1928 


COPYRIGHT,  1892,  BY 

D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1888,  1920,  by  Jesse  W.  Weik 

PRINTED     IN     THE     UNITED    STATES     OF    AMERICA 


^ 


H 


»? 


TO 

THE  MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  AMERICA 

WHO    HAVE    GROWN    UP    SINCE    HIS    TRAGIC    DEATH,    AND 

WHO   HAVE  YET  TO   LEARN  THE   STORY   OF  HIS  LIFE, 

THIS   RECORD   OF 

ABRAHAM     LINCOLN 

IS  FAITHFULLY   INSCRIBED 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://www.archive.org/details/abrahamlincolntr01ilhern 


ORIGINAL   PREFACE   TO 
HERNDON'S   LINCOLN. 


A  QUARTER  of  a  century  has  well-nigh  rolled  by 
since  the  tragic  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The 
prejudice  and  bitterness  with  which  he  was  assailed 
have  disappeared  from  the  minds  of  men,  and  the 
world  is  now  beginning  to  view  him  as  a  great  his- 
torical character.  Those  who  knew  and  walked  with 
him  are  gradually  passing  away,  and  ere  long  the 
last  man  who  ever  heard  his  voice  or  grasped  his 
hand  will  have  gone  from  earth.  With  a  view  to 
throwing  a  light  on  some  attributes  of  Lincoln's 
character  heretofore  obscure,  and  thus  contributing 
to  the  great  fund  of  history  which  goes  down  to 
posterity,  these  volumes  are  given  to  the  world. 

If  Mr.  Lincoln  is  destined  to  fill  that  exalted 
station  in  history  or  attain  that  high  rank  in  the 
estimation  of  the  coming  generations  which  has 
been  predicted  of  him,  it  is  alike  just  to  his  mem- 
ory and  the  proper  legacy  of  mankind  that  the 
whole  truth  concerning  him  should  be  known.  If 
the  story  of  his  life  is  truthfully  and  courageously 
told — nothing  colored  or  suppressed  ;  nothing  false 
either  written  or  suggested — the  reader  will  see  and 
feel  the  presence  of  the  living  man.  He  will,  in 
fact,  live  with  him  and  be  moved  to  think  and  act 


VI  PREFACE. 

with  him.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  story  is  col- 
ored or  the  facts  in  any  degree  suppressed,  the 
reader  will  be  not  only  misled,  but  imposed  upon  as 
well.  At  last  the  truth  will  come,  and  no  man  need 
hope  to  evade  it. 

'*  There  is  but  one  true  history  in  the  world,*' 
said  one  of  Lincoln^s  closest  friends  to  whom  I  con- 
fided the  project  of  writing  a  history  of  his  life 
several  years  ago,  **and  that  is  the  Bible.  It  is 
often  said  of  the  old  characters  portrayed  there 
that  they  were  bad  men.  They  are  contrasted 
with  other  characters  in  history,  and  much  to  the 
detriment  of  the  old  worthies.  The  reason  is,  that 
the  Biblical  historian  told  the  whole  truth — the 
inner  life.  The  heart  and  secret  acts  are  brought 
to  light  and  faithfully  photographed.  In  other  his- 
tories virtues  are  perpetuated  and  vices  concealed. 
If  the  life  of  King  David  had  been  written  by  an 
ordinary  historian  the  affair  of  Uriah  would  at  most 
have  been  a  quashed  indictment  with  a  denial  of 
all  the  substantial  facts.  You  should  not  forget 
there  is  a  skeleton  in  every  house.  The  finest 
character  dug  out  thoroughly,  photographed  hon- 
estly, and  judged  by  that  standard  of  morality  or 
excellence  which  we  exact  for  other  men  is  never 
perfect.  Some  men  are  cold,  some  lewd,  some  dis- 
honest, some  cruel,  and  many  a  combination  of  all. 
The  trail  of  the  serpent  is  over  them  all !  Excel- 
lence  consists,  not  in  the  absence  of  these  attri- 
butes,  but  in  the  degree  in  which  they  are  redeemed 
by  the  virtues  and  graces  of  life.  Lincoln's  char- 
acter will,  I  am  certain,  bear  close  scrutiny.     I  am 


PREFACE.  vii 

not  afraid  of  you  in  this  direction.  Don't  let  any- 
thing deter  you  from  digging  to  the  bottom  ;  yet 
don't  forget  that  if  Lincoln  had  some  faults,  Wash- 
ington had  more — few  men  have  less.  In  drawing 
the  portrait  tell  the  world  what  the  skeleton  was 
with  Lincoln.  What  gave  him  that  peculiar  mei- 
ancholy  ?    What  cancer  had  he  inside?  '' 

Some  persons  will  doubtless  object  to  the  narra- 
tion of  certain  facts  which  appear  here  for  the  first 
time,  and  which  they  contend  should  have  been 
consigned  to  the  tomb.  Their  pretense  is  that  no 
good  can  come  from  such  ghastly  exposures.  To 
such  over-sensitive  souls,  if  any  such  exist,  my 
answer  is  that  these  facts  are  indispensable  to  a  full 
knowledge  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  all  the  walks  of  life. 
In  order  properly  to  comprehend  him  and  the  stir- 
ring, bloody  times  in  which  he  lived,  and  in  which 
he  played  such  an  important  part,  we  must  have  all 
the  facts — we  must  be  prepared  to  take  him  as  he 
was. 

In  determining  Lincoln's  title  to  greatness  we 
must  not  only  keep  in  mind  the  times  in  which 
he  lived,  but  we  must,  to  a  certain  extent,  meas- 
ure him  with  other  men.  Many  of  our  great  men 
and  our  statesmen,  it  is  true,  have  been  self-made, 
rising  gradually  through  struggles  to  the  topmost 
round  of  the  ladder ;  but  Lincoln  rose  from  a  lower 
depth  than  any  of  them.  His  origin  was  in  that 
unknown  and  sunless  bog  in  which  history  never 
made  a  foot-print.  I  should  be  remiss  in  my  duty 
if  I  did  not  throw  the  light  on  this  part  of  the 
picture,  so  that  the  world  may  realize  what  mar- 


viii  PREFACE, 

vellous  contrast  one  phase  of  his  Hfe  presents  to 
another. 

The  purpose  of  these  volumes  is  to  narrate  facts, 
avoiding  as  much  as  possible  any  expression  of 
opinion,  and  leaving  the  reader  to  form  his  own  con- 
clusions. Use  has  been  made  of  the  views  and 
recollections  of  other  persons,  but  only  those  known 
to  be  truthful  and  trustworthy.  A  thread  of  the 
narrative  of  Lincoln's  life  runs  through  the  work, 
but  an  especial  feature  is  an  analysis  of  the  man 
and  a  portrayal  of  his  attributes  and  characteristics. 
The  attempt  to  delineate  his  qualities,  his  nature 
and  its  manifestations,  may  occasion  frequent  repe- 
titions of  fact,  but  if  truthfully  done  this  can  only 
augment  the  store  of  matter  from  which  posterity 
is  to  learn  what  manner  of  man  he  was. 

The  object  of  this  work  is  to  deal  with  Mr.  Lin- 
coin  individually  and  domestically ;  as  lawyer,  as 
citizen,  as  statesman.  Especial  attention  is  given  to 
the  history  of  his  youth  and  early  manhood  ;  and 
while  dwelling  on  this  portion  of  his  life  the  liberty 
is  taken  to  insert  many  things  which  would  be 
omitted  or  suppressed  in  other  places,  where  the 
cast-iron  rules  that  govern  magazine -writing  are 
allowed  to  prevail.  Thus  much  is  stated  in  advance, 
so  that  no  one  need  be  disappointed  in  the  scope 
and  extent  of  the  work.  The  endeavor  is  to  keep 
Lincoln  in  sight  all  the  time ;  to  cling  close  to  his 
side  all  the  way  through — leaving  to  others  the 
more  comprehensive  task  of  writing  a  history  of  his 
times.  I  have  no  theory  of  his  life  to  establish  or 
destroy.     Mr.  Lincoln  was  my  warm,  devoted  friend. 


PREFACE,  ix 

I  always  loved  him,  and  I  revere  his  name  to  this 
day.  My  purpose  to  tell  the  truth  about  him  need 
occasion  no  apprehension  ;  for  I  know  that  ^*  God's 
naked  truth,"  as  Carlyle  puts  it»  can  never  injure 
the  fame  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  will  stand  that 
or  any  other  test,  and  at  last  untarnished  will  reach 
the  loftiest  niche  in  American  history. 

My  long  personal  association  with  Mr.  Lincoln 
gave  me  special  facilities  in  the  direction  of  obtain- 
ing materials  for  these  volumes.  Such  were  our 
relations  during  all  that  portion  of  his  life  when  he 
was  rising  to  distinction,  that  I  had  only  to  exer- 
cise  a  moderate  vigilance  in  order  to  gather  and 
preserve  the  real  data  of  his  personal  career.  Be- 
ing strongly  drawn  to  the  man,  and  believing  in  his 
destiny,  I  was  not  unobservant  or  careless  in  this 
respect.  It  thus  happened  that  I  became  the  per- 
sonal depositary  of  the  larger  part  of  the  most  valu- 
able Lincolniana  in  existence.  Out  of  this  store 
the  major  portion  of  the  materials  of  the  following 
volumes  has  been  drawn.  I  take  this,  my  first 
general  opportunity,  to  return  thanks  to  the  scores 
of  friends  in  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  else- 
where for  the  information  they  have  so  generously 
furnished  and  the  favors  they  have  so  kindly 
extended  me.  Their  names  are  too  numerous  for 
separate  mention,  but  the  recompense  of  each  one 
will  be  the  consciousness  of  having  contributed  a 
share  towards  a  true  history  of  the  *' first  Ameri- 
can." 

Over  twenty  years  ago  I  began  this  book;  but 
an  active  life  at  the  bar  has  caused  me  to  postpone 


X  PREFACE. 

the  work  of  composition,  until,  now,  being  some- 
what advanced  in  years,  I  find  myself  unable  to 
carry  out  the  undertaking.  Within  the  past  three 
years  I  have  been  assisted  in  the  preparation  of  the 
book  by  Mr.  Jesse  W.  Weik,  of  Greencastle,  Ind., 
whose  industry,  patience,  and  literary  zeal  have  not 
only  lessened  my  labors,  but  have  secured  for  him 
the  approbation  of  Lincoln's  friends  and  admirers. 
Mr.  Weik  has  by  his  personal  investigation  greatly 
enlarged  our  common  treasure  of  facts  and  informa* 
tion.  He  has  for  several  years  been  indefatigable 
in  exploring  the  course  of  Lincoln's  life.  In  no 
particular  has  he  been  satisfied  with  anything  taken 
at  second  hand.  He  has  visited — as  I  also  did  in 
1865 — Lincoln's  birthplace  in  Kentucky,  his  early 
homes  in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  together,  so  to 
speak,  he  and  I  have  followed  our  hero  continu- 
ously and  attentively  till  he  left  Springfield  in  1861 
to  be  inaugurated  President.  We  have  retained 
the  original  MSS.  in  all  cases,  and  they  have  never 
been  out  of  our  hands.  In  relating  facts  therefore, 
we  refer  to  them  in  most  cases,  rather  than  to  the 
statements  of  other  biographers. 

This  brief  preliminary  statement  is  made  so  that 
posterity,  in  so  far  as  posterity  may  be  interested  in 
the  subject,  may  know  that  the  vital  matter  of  this 
narrative  has  been  deduced  directly  from  the  con* 
sciousness,  reminiscences,  and  collected  data  of 

William  H.  Herndon. 

Springfield,  III. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGES 

Introduction .        xix-xxviii 

CHAPTER  I. 

Date  and  place  of  Lincoln's  birth. — The  interview  with 
J.  L.  Scripps. — Lincoln's  reference  to  his  mother. — The 
Bible  record. — The  journal  of  William  Calk. — The  death  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  President's  grandfather. — Mordecai's 
revenge. — Thomas  Lincoln,  his  marriage  and  married  life. — 
Nancy  Hanks,  the  President's  mother. — Her  sadness,  her 
disposition  and  mental  nature. — The  camp-meeting  at  Eliza- 
bethtown.  .........         I-I2 

CHAPTER  IL 

Sarah  Lincoln. — She  attends  school  with  her  brother 
Abraham. — The  tribute  by  Helm  to  Abe,  the  little  boy. — 
Boyhood  exploits  with  John  Duncan  and  Austin  Gollaher. — 
Dissatisfaction  of  Thomas  Lincoln  with  Kentucky. — The 
removal  to  Indiana. — The  "half-faced  camp." — Thomas 
and  Betsy  Sparrow  follow. — How  Thomas  Lincoln  and  the 
Sparrows  farmed. — Life  in  the  Lincoln  cabin. — Abe  and 
David  Turnham  go  to  mill. — Appearance  of  the  "milk 
sick  "  in  the  Pigeon  Creek  settlement. — Death  of  the  Spar- 
rows.— Death  of  Nancy  Lincoln. — The  widowerhood  of 
Thomas  Lincoln. — He  marries  Sarah  Bush  Johnston. — The 
Lincoln  and  Johnston  children. — 'Tilda  Johnston's  indiscre- 
tion.— Attending  school. — Abe's  gallantry  toward  Kate 
Roby. — '*  Blue-Nose"  Crawford  and  the  book. — Schoolboy 
poetry. — Abe's  habits  of  study. — Testimony  of  his  step- 
mother. . 13-41 


Xii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PAGBS 

Abe  reads  his  first  law-book. — The  fight  between  John 
Johnston  and  William  Grigsby. — Recollections  of  Elizabeth 
Crawford. — Marriage  of  Sarah  Lincoln  and  Aaron  Grigsby. 
— The  wedding  song. — More  poetry. — Abe  attends  court  at 
Booneville. — The  accident  at  Gordon's  mill. — Borrowing 
law-books  of  Judge  Pitcher. — Compositions  on  Temperance 
and  Government. — The  journey  with  Allen  Gentry  to  New 
Orleans. — Return  to  Indiana. — Customs  and  superstition  of 
the  pioneers. — Reappearance  of  the  **  milk  sick." — Removal 
to  Illinois. — Abe  and  his  pet  dog 42-59 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  settlement  in  Illinois. — Splitting  rails  with  John 
Hanks.— Building  the  boat  for  Offut.— The  return  to  Illi- 
nois.— New  Salem  described. — Clerking  on  the  election 
board. — The  lizard  story. — Salesman  in  Offut's  store. — The 
wrestle  with  Jack  Armstrong. — Studying  in  the  store. — Dis- 
appearance of  Offut. — The  Talisman, — 01iphant*s  poetry. — 
The  reception  at  Springfield. — The  Captain's  wife. — Return 
trip  of  the  Talisman. — Rowan  Hemdon  and  Lincoln  pilot 
her  through. — The  navigability  of  the  Sangamon  fully  dem- 
onstrated.— The  vessel  reaches  Beardstown.         .         .         .      60-82 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Black  Hawk  war. — Lincoln  elected  captain — Under 
arrest. — Protecting  the  Indian. — Recollections  of  a  com- 
rade.— Lincoln  re-enlists  as  a  private. — Return  to  New 
Salem. — Candidate  for  the  Legislature. — The  handbill. — 
First  political  speech. — The  canvass. — Defeat. — Partnership 
in  the  store  with  Berry. — The  trade  with  William  Greene. — 
Failure  of  the  business. — Law  studies. — Pettifogging. — 
Stories  and  poetry. — Referee  in  rural  sports. — Deputy  sur- 
veyor under  John  Calhoun. — Studying  with  Mentor  Graham. 
— Postmaster  at  New  Salem. — The  incident  with  Chand- 
ler.— Feats  of  strength. — Second  race  for  the  Legislature. — 
Election 83-I18 


CONTENTS.  xiii 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PAGES 

Lincoln  falls  in  love  with  Anne  Rutledge. — The  old 
fitory. — Description  of  the  girl. — The  affair  with  John 
McNeil. — Departure  of  McNeil  for  New  York. — Anne 
learns  of  the  change  of  name. — Her  faith  under  fire. — Lin- 
coln appears  on  the  scene. — Courting  in  dead  earnest. — 
Lincoln's  proposal  accepted. — The  ghost  of  another  love. — 
Death  of  Anne. — Effect  on  Lincoln's  mind. — His  suffering. 
— Kindness  of  Bowlin  Greene. — **  Oh,  why  should  the  spirit 
of  mortal  be  proud  ?  " — Letter  to  Dr.  Drake. — Return  of 
McNamar.        . 1 19-133 

CHAPTER  VII. 

An  amusing  courtship. — Lincoln  meets  Mary  S.  Owens. — 
Her  nature,  education,  and  mind. — Lincoln's  boast. — He 
pays  his  addresses. — The  lady's  letters  to  Herndon. — Lin- 
coln's letters. — His  avowals  of  affection. — The  letter  to  Mrs. 
Browning. — Miss   Owens*   estimate   of  Lincoln.         .         .  134-152 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Lincoln  a  member  of  the  Legislature  at  Vandalia. — First 
meeting  with  Douglas. — The  society  of  Vandalia. — Pioneer 
legislation. — Deputy  surveyor  under  Thomas  M.  Neal. — 
Candidate  for  the  Legislature  again. — Another  handbill. — 
Favors  "Woman's  Rights." — The  letter  to  Col.  Robert 
Allen. — The  canvass. — The  answer  to  George  Forquer. — 
The  election,  Lincoln  leading  the  ticket. — The  **Long 
Nine." — Reckless  legislation. — The  **  DeWitt  Clinton  "  of 
Illinois. — Internal  improvements. — The  removal  of  the 
capital  to  Springfield. — The  Committee  on  Finance. — The 
New  England  importation. — The  Lincoln-Stone  protest. — 
Return  of  the  **  Long  Nine ''  to  Springfield. — Lincoln  re- 
moves to  Springfield. — Licensed  to  practise  law. — In  part- 
nership with  John  T.  Stuart. — Early  practice. — Generosity 
of  Joshua  F.  Speed. — The  bar  of  Springfield. — Speed's 
store. — Political  discussions. — More  poetry. — Lincoln  ad- 
dresses the  *•  Young  Men's  Lyceum." — The  debate  in  the 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGES 

Presbyterian  Church. — Elected  to  the  Legislature  again. — 
Answering  Col.  Dick  Taylor  on  the  stump. — Rescue  of 
Baker. — Last  canvass  for  the  Legislature. — The  Thomas 
**  skinning." — The  Presidential  canvass  of  1840.         .         .  153-190 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Lincoln  still  unmarried. — The  Todd  family. — Mary  Todd. 
— Introduced  to  Lincoln. — The  courtship. — The  flirtation 
with  Douglas. — The  advice  of  Speed. — How  Lincoln  broke 
the  engagement. — Preparations  for  marriage. — A  disap- 
pointed bride. — A  crazy  groom. — Speed  takes  Lincoln  to 
Kentucky. — Restored  spirits. — Return  of  Lincoln  to  Illinois. 
— Letters  to  Speed. — The  party  at  Simeon  Francis's  house. 
— The  reconciliation. — The  marriage. — The  duel  with  James 
Shields. — The  "  Rebecca  "  letters. — "  Cathleen  "  invokes 
the  muse. — Whiteside's  account  of  tht*  duel. — Merryman's 
account. — Lincoln's  address  before  the  Washingtonian  Soci- 
ety.— Meeting  with  Martin  Van  Buren. — Partnership  with 
Stephen  T.  Logan. — Partnership  with  William  H.  Herndon. 
— Congressional  aspirations. — Nomination  and  election  of 
John  J.  Hardin. — The  Presidential  campaign  of  1844. — Lin- 
coln takes  the  stump  in  Southern  Indiana. — Lincoln  nomi- 
nated for  Congress. — The  canvass  against  Peter  Cartwright. 
— Lincoln  elected. — In  Congress. — The  "  Spot  Resolutions." 
— Opposes  the  Mexican  war. — Letters  to  Herndon. — 
Speeches  in  Congress. — Stumping  through  New  England. — 
A  Congressman's  troubles. — A  characteristic  letter. — End  of 
Congressional  term 191-280 

CHAPTER  X. 

Lincoln  takes  part  in  the  campaign  in  Massachusetts  in 
1848. — The  account  of  Edward  L.  Pierce. — Report  of  Bos- 
ton Advertiser, — Speeches  in  Boston,  Dorchester,  Chelsea, 
Dedham,  and  Cambridge. — Lincoln's  impression  on  the 
Whigs. — Meets  Governor  Seward. — Editorial  in  Lowell 
Journal  and  Courier, — Reminiscence  of  ex-Governor  Gard- 
ner.— Recollections  of  George   H.  Monroe.         .         .         .  281-294 


CONTENTS.  XV 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PAGES 

Early  married  life. — Boarding  at  the  "Globe  Tavern." — 
A  plucky  little  wife. — Niagara  Falls. — The  patent  for  lifting 
vessels  over  shoals. — Candidate  for  Commissioner  of  the 
Land  Office. — The  appointment  of  Butterfield. — The  offer 
of  Territorial  posts  by  President  Taylor. — A  journey  to 
Washington  and  incidents. — Return  to  Illinois. — Settling 
down  to  practice  law. — Life  on  the  circuit. — Story-telling. — 
Habits  as  lawyer  and  methods  of  study. — Law-office  of  Lin- 
coln and  Herndon. — Recollections  of  Littlefield, — Studying 
Euclid. — Taste  for  literature. — Lincoln's  first  appearance  in 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois. — Professional  honor  and  per- 
sonal honesty. — The  juror  in  the  divorce  case.         .        .  295-33 1 


INTRODUCTION. 


I  WAS  called  upon  during  the  lifetime  of  Mr. 
Herndon  to  write  for  the  second  edition  of  this 
work  a  chapter  on  the  Lincoln-Douglas  campaign 
of  1858.  After  this  had  been  done  and  the  book 
had  been  revised  for  the  press,  I  was  requested  by 
the  publishers  to  add  something  in  the  nature  of 
a  character  sketch  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  I  knew  him 
before  his  fame  had  spread  much  beyond  the  con- 
fines of  Illinois,  and  to  tell  what  were  those  quali- 
ties that  made  him  so  attractive  then.  Of  course, 
they  were  the  same  qualities  which  made  him 
attractive  afterward  on  a  wider  scale.  The  popu- 
lar judgment  of  him  is,  in  the  main,  correct  and 
unshakable.  I  say  in  the  main,  because  there  is  in 
this  judgment  a  tendency  to  apotheosis  which, 
while  pardonable,  is  not  historical,  and  will  not  last. 

At  the  time  when  he  was  preparing  himself  un- 
consciously to  be  the  nation's  leader  in  a  great 
crisis  the  only  means  of  gaining  public  attention 
was  by  public  speech.  The  press  did  not  exist  for 
him,  or  for  the  people  among  whom  he  lived. 
The  ambitious  young  men  of  the  day  must  make 
their  mark  by  oratory,  or  not  at  all.  There  was 
no  division  of  labor  between  the  speaker  and  the 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

editor.  If  a  man  was  to  gain  any  popularity  he 
must  gain  it  by  talking  into  the  faces  of  the  peo- 
ple. He  must  have  a  ready  tongue,  and  must  be 
prepared  to  meet  all  comers  and  to  accept  all 
challenges.  Stump-speaking,  wrestling,  story-tell- 
ing, and  horse-racing  were  the  only  amusements 
of  the  people.  In  the  first  three  of  these  Mr. 
Lincoln  excelled.  He  grew  up  in  this  atmosphere, 
as  did  all  his  rivals.  It  was  a  school  to  develop 
all  the  debating  powers  that  the  community  pos- 
sessed, and  to  bring  them  to  a  high  degree  of  per- 
fection. Polish  was  not  necessary  to  success,  but 
plainness  of  diction  was.  The  successful  speaker 
was  he  who  could  make  himself  best  understood 
by  the  common  people,  and  in  turn  could  best 
understand  them. 

Among  the  earliest  accounts  that  we  get  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  we  find  him  talking  to  other  boys  from 
some  kind  of  a  platform.  He  had  a  natural  gift, 
and  he  exercised  it  as  opportunity  came  to  him. 
When  he  arrived  at  man*s  estate  these  oppor- 
tunities came  as  often  as  could  be  desired.  Other 
young  men  gifted  in  the  same  way  were  grow- 
ing up  around  him.  Douglas,  Baker,  Trumbull, 
Hardin,  Browning,  Yates,  Archibald  Williams, 
Josiah  Lamborn,  and  Lisle  Smith  were  among 
them.  All  these  had  the  same  kind  of  training  for 
public  preferment  that  Lincoln  had  ;  some  of  them 
had  more  book  learning,  but  not  much  more.  We 
have  his  own  word  for  it  that  he  was  as  ambitious 
of  such  preferment  as  Douglas  was ;  and  this  was 
putting  it  in  the  superlative  degree. 


INTRODUCTION,  Xxi 

The  popular  conception  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  one 
not  seeking  public  honors,  but  not  avoiding  pub. 
lie  duties,  is  3,  post  bellum  growth,  very  wide  of  the 
mark.  He  was  entirely  human  in  this  regard,  but 
his  desire  for  political  preferment  was  hedged 
about  by  a  sense  of  obligation  to  the  truth  which 
nothing  could  shake.  This  fidelity  to  truth  was 
ingrained  and  unchangeable.  In  all  the  speeches 
I  ever  heard  him  make — and  they  were  many — he 
never  even  insinuated  an  untruth,  nor  did  he  ever 
fail  when  stating  his  opponent's  positions  to  state 
them  fully  and  fairly.  He  often  stated  his  oppo- 
nent's position  better  than  his  opponent  did  or 
could.  To  say  what  was  false,  or  even  to  leave  his 
hearers  under  a  wrong  impression,  was  impossible 
to  him.  Within  this  high  inclosure  he  was  as  am- 
bitious of  earthly  honors  as  any  man  of  his  time. 
Furthermore,  he  was  an  adept  at  log-rolling  or 
any  political  game  that  did  not  involve  falsity.  I 
was  Secretary  of  the  Republican  State  Committee 
of  Illinois  during  some  years  when  he  was  in  act- 
ive campaign  work.  He  was  often  present  at 
meetings  ot  the  committee,  although  not  a  mem- 
ber, and  took  part  in  the  committee  work.  His 
judgment  was  very  much  deferred  to  in  such  mat- 
ters. He  was  one  of  the  shrewdest  politicians  of 
the  State.  Nobody  had  had  more  experience  in 
that  way,  nobody  knew  better  than  he  what  was 
passing  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  Nobody 
knew  better  how  to  turn  things  to  advantage  po- 
liticall}^',  and  nobody  was  readier  to  take  such 
advantage,  provided  it  did  not  involve  dishonor- 


Xxil  flVTRODUCTION. 

able  means.  He  could  not  cheat  people  out  of 
their  votes  any  more  than  out  of  their  money. 
The  Abraham  Lincoln  that  some  people  have 
pictured  to  themselves,  sitting  in  his  dingy  law 
office,  working  over  his  cases  till  the  voice  of  duty 
roused  him,  never  existed.  If  this  had  been  his 
type  he  never  would  have  been  called  at  all.  It 
was  precisely  because  he  was  up  and  stirring,  and 
in  hot,  incessant  competition  with  his  fellows  for 
earthly  honors,  that  the  public  eye  became  fixed 
upon  him  and  the  public  ear  attuned  to  his  words. 
Fortunate  was  it  for  all  of  us  that  he  was  no 
shrinking  patriot,  that  he  was  moved  as  other  men 
are  moved,  so  that  his  fellows  might  take  heed  of 
him  and  know  him  as  one  of  themselves,  and  as  fit 
to  be  their  leader  in  a  crisis. 

Let  me  repeat  and  emphasize  what  I  have  here 
said.  Mr.  Lincoln  never  gave  his  assent,  so  far  as 
my  knowledge  goes,  to  any  plan  or  project  for 
getting  votes  that  would  not  have  borne  the  full 
light  of  day.  At  the  same  time,  he  had  no  objec- 
tion to  the  getting  of  votes  by  the  pledge  of 
offices,  nor  was  he  too  particular  what  kind  of  men 
got  the  offices.  His  preference  was  always  for 
good  men ;  but  he  could  not  resist  pressure 
where  persons  were  concerned,  even  though  his 
conscience  told  him  that  he  was  doing  wrong. 

We  have  seen  what  kind  of  debating  school  Mr. 
Lincoln  grew  up  in.  It  was  the  best  possible 
school  for  him,  and  it  was  an  advantage  to  him 
that  he  had  able  men  for  his  competitors.  Among 
them  was  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  most  versatile, 


INTRODUCTION,  xxiii 

indomitable,  and  unscrupulous  of  all  of  them.  He 
was  Lincoln's  rival,  as  is  shown  in  these  pages, 
for  almost  everything,  from  the  hand  of  Mary 
Todd  to  the  presidency  of  the  United  States.  He 
had  the  strength  and  presence  of  a  lion,  with  all 
the  cunning  of  a  fox.  He  possessed  every  qualit}^ 
which  wins  popular  favor  and  high  station  except 
veracity,  and  I  know  of  nothing  in  the  pages  oi 
history  more  cheering  to  pious  souls  than  the 
eventual  triumph  of  Honest  Abe  over  the  Little 
Giant. 

It  was  by  restless  competition  and  rough-and> 
tumble  with  Douglas  and  others  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
acquired  that  rare  power  of  expression,  by  mouth 
and  pen,  which  drew  to  himself  the  attention  of  the 
State  and  afterward  of  the  nation  and  the  world. 
He  rarely  used  ornament  in  his  speeches.  Al- 
though gifted  with  the  power  of  humor  to  an  ex- 
traordinary degree,  he  seldom  employed  it  in  his 
later  years  except  in  private  circles.  Thus  it  came 
about  that  this  growing  master  of  logic,  this  pro- 
found and  earnest  debater  of  the  most  serious 
questions  of  the  day,  was  the  most  popular  of 
tavern  loungers,  and  could  draw  more  people  to- 
gether and  hold  them  longer  by  mere  drollery 
and  cameraderie  than  any  other  man  I  ever  knew. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  nature  was  one  of  almost  child-like 
sweetness.  He  did  not  ''  put  you  at  your  ease  " 
when  you  came  into  his  presence.  You  felt  at 
your  ease  without  being  put  there.  He  never 
assumed  superiority  over  anybody  in  the  ordinary 
intercourse  of  life. 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION-. 

A  good  test  of  this  trait  in  his  character  was 
furnished  in  my  own  experience.  When  I  was 
first  thrown  into  his  society  I  was  just  out  of  col- 
lege, and  was  as  callow  and  as  self-confident  as 
boys  usually  are  at  that  time  of  life.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  at  the  maturity  of  his  powers.  I  was  often 
with  him  when  he  had  no  other  companion.  In 
our  intercourse  he  always  paid  marked  deference 
to  my  opinions,  and  if  we  differed  he  would  argue 
the  point  with  me  as  earnestly  as  though  I  had 
been  the  opposing  counsel  in  a  lawsuit.  And  this 
he  would  do  with  anybody,  young  or  old,  ignorant 
or  learned.  I  never  heard  him  express  contempt 
for  any  man*s  honest  errors,  although  he  would 
sometimes  make  a  droll  remark  or  tell  a  funny 
story  about  them.  Deference  to  other  people's 
opinions  was  habitual  to  him.  There  was  no  cal- 
culation, no  politics  in  it.  It  was  part  and  parcel 
of  his  sense  of  equal  rights.  His  democracy  was 
of  the  unconscious  kind — he  did  not  know  any- 
thing different  from  it.  Coupled  with  this  was  a 
habit  of  unselfishness  and  kindly  temper  most  en- 
gaging to  all  who  knew  him  or  had  any  dealings 
with  him.  At  the  same  time  he  knew  when  he 
was  imposed  upon,  and  it  was  unsafe  for  anybody 
to  presume  upon  his  good  nature  or  to  take  him 
for  a  fiat. 

But  more  than  intellectual  gifts,  more  than  good- 
fellowship,  did  the  sense  of  justice  give  him  his 
hold  on  others.  That  was  a  magnetic  field  whose 
influences  could  not  be  escaped.  He  carried  it  as 
unconsciously  as  he  carried  his  hair.    The  Atheni- 


,   INTRODUCTION,  XXV 

ans  would  never  have  ostracized  him — indeed,  they 
would  never  have  called  him  the  Just.  They 
would  have  taken  him  as  they  took  the  bees  on 
Hymettus — as  one  naturally  searching  after  sweet 
things. 

To  say  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  man  who  had 
the  courage  of  his  convictions  would  be  rather  an 
under-statement.  This  was  part  and  parcel  of  his 
sense  of  justice.  He  wore  it  as  he  wore  his  clothes, 
except  that  it  fitted  him  much  better  than  his  gar- 
ments usually  did.  At  the  time  I  first  knew  him 
it  was  irksome  to  very  many  of  his  friends  to  be 
told  that  there  ought  to  be  an  efficient  fugitive 
slave  law.  But  it  was  his  conviction  as  a  lawyer 
that  there  ought  to  be  one,  and  he  never  failed  to 
say  so  when  interrogated,  or  when  occasion  re- 
quired that  that  subject  should  be  touched  upon. 
And  it  is  a  fact  that  abolitionists  like  Lovejoy  and 
Codding  would  take  this  from  Lincoln  without 
murmuring,  when  they  would  not  take  it  from 
anybody  else.  He  never  would  echo  the  popular 
cry,  "  No  more  slave  States  !  **  Whenever  this  sub- 
ject was  discussed  he  would  say  that  if  a  Territory 
having  the  requisite  population  and  belonging  to 
us  should  apply  for  admission  to  the  Union  with- 
out fraud  or  constraint,  yet  with  slavery,  he  could 
not  see  any  other  disposition  to  be  made  of  her 
than  to  admit  her.  And  when  he  had  said  this, 
even  to  an  audience  of  radical  antislavery  men, 
there  would  be  no  protestations.  Those  who  were 
not  convinced  would  observe  a  respectful  silence. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  facial  expression  when  in  repose 


Xxvi  INTRODUCTION, 

and  when  animated  presented  most  remarkable 
contrasts.  I  have  before  me  a  photograph  of  him 
taken  at  Pittsfield,  Illinois,  during  the  campaign 
of  1858.  It  looks  as  I  have  seen  him  a  hundred 
times,  his  lantern  jaws  and  large  mouth  and 
solid  nose  firmly  set,  his  sunken  eyes  looking 
at  nothing  yet  not  unexpressive,  his  wrinkled  and 
retreating  forehead  cut  off  by  a  mass  of  tousled 
hair,  with  a  shade  of  melancholy  drawn  like  a  veil 
over  his  whole  face.  Nothing  more  unlike  this 
can  be  imagined  than  the  same  Lincoln  when  tak- 
ing part  in  a  conversation,  or  addressing  an  au- 
dience, or  telling  a  story.  The  dull,  listless  feat- 
ures dropped  like  a  mask.  The  melancholy  shad- 
ow disappeared  in  a  twinkling.  The  eye  began 
to  sparkle,  the  mouth  to  smile,  the  whole  counte- 
nance was  wreathed  with  animation,  so  that  a 
stranger  would  have  said  :  ''  Why,  this  man,  so 
angular  and  somber  a  moment  ago,  is  really  hand- 
some.'* 

What  more  can  be  said  of  the  qualities  that  first 
made  Mr.  Lincoln  attractive  to  his  contempora- 
ries? These  were  debating  power,  honesty  of 
purpose,  a  child-like  temper,  purity  of  life,  and 
courage  of  conviction.  All  these  traits  will  be 
seen  in  the  following  pages,  rising,  unfolding,  ex- 
panding in  a  regular,  orderly,  human  way  as  the 
young  Lincoln  grew  to  mature  years. 

What  Mr.  Lincoln  was  after  he  became  Presi^ 
dent  can  be  best  understood  by  knowing  what  he 
was  before.  The  world  owes  more  to  William 
H.  Herndon  for  this  particular  knowledge  than  to 


INTRODUCTION,  XXvfi 

all  other  persons  taken  together.  It  is  no  ex- 
aggeration to  say  that  his  death,  which  took  place 
at  his  farm  near  Springfield,  Illinois,  March  i8, 
1 89 1,  removed  from  earth  the  person  who,  of  all 
others,  had  most  thoroughly  searched  the  sources 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  biography  and  had  most  atten- 
tively,  intelligently,  and  also  lovingly  studied  his 
character.  He  was  generous  in  imparting  his  in- 
formation to  others.  Almost  every  life  of  Lincoln 
published  since  the  tragedy  at  Ford's  Theatre 
has  been  enriched  by  his  labors.  He  was  nine 
years  the  junior  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Their  partner- 
ship began  in  1843,  ^^d  it  continued  until  it  was 
dissolved  by  the  death  of  the  senior  member.  Be- 
tween them  there  was  never  an  unkind  word  or 
thought.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  became  President,  Mr. 
Herndon  could  have  had  his  fortunes  materially 
advanced  under  the  new  Administration  by  saying 
a  word.  He  was  a  poor  man  then  and  always, 
but  he  chose  to  remain  in  his  more  humble  sta- 
tion and  to  earn  his  bread  by  his  daily  labor. 

Some  six  years  ago  Mr.  Herndon  conceived  the 
project  of  writing  a  series  of  magazine  articles 
intended  to  portray  the  youth  and  early  manhood 
of  Lincoln.  Being  somewhat  infirm,  he  called  Mr. 
Weik  to  his  assistance,  as  he  has  explained  in  his 
preface.  The  magazine  articles  expanded  insensi- 
bly to  the  present  volumes.  Lincolniana  is  in- 
creasing and  is  destined  to  increase.  It  has  been 
enriched  within  recent  years  by  the  indispensable 
but  too  massive  work  of  Nicolay  and  Hay,  by  the 
masterly  essay  of  Schurz,  and  by  the  posthumous 


XX  viii  IN  TROD  UCTION. 

lecture  of  Greeley,  which  latter,  being  in  reality 
if  not  in  terms  a  hearty,  ungrudging  confession 
that  he  had  underestimated  Lincoln  in  his  lifetime, 
is  doubly  welcome.  As  a  portraiture  of  the  man 
Lincoln — and  this  is  what  we  look  for  above  all 
things  in  a  biography — I  venture  to  think  that 
Mr.  Herndon*s  work  will  never  be  surpassed. 

Horace  White. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Beyond  the  fact  that  he  was  born  on  the  I2th 
day  of  February,  1809,  in  Hardin  county,  Ken- 
tucky, Mr.  Lincoln  usually  had  but  little  to  say  of 
himself,  the  lives  of  his  parents,  or  the  history  of 
the  family  before  their  removal  to  Indiana.  If  he 
mentioned  the  subject  at  all,  it  was  with  great  re- 
luctance  and  significant  reserve.  There  was  some- 
thing about  his  origin  he  never  cared  to  dwell 
upon.  His  nomination  for  the  Presidency  in  i860, 
however,  made  the  publication  of  his  life  a  neces- 
sity, and  attracted  to  Springfield  an  army  of  cam- 
paign biographers  and  newspaper  men.  They  met 
him  in  his  office,  stopped  him  in  his  walks,  and  fol- 
lowed him  to  his  house.  Artists  came  to  paint  his 
picture,  and  sculptors  to  make  his  bust.  His  auto- 
graphs were  in  demand,  and  people  came  long  dis- 
tances to  shake  him  by  the  hand.  This  sudden  ele- 
vation to  national  prominence  found  Mr.  Lincoln 
unprepared  in  a  great  measure  for  the  unaccus- 
tomed demonstrations  that  awaited  him.  While  he 
was  easy  of  approach  and  equally  courteous  to  all, 


2  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLJST, 

yet,  as  he  said  to  me  one  evening  after  a  long  day 
of  hand-shaking,  he  could  not  understand  why 
people  should  make  so  much  over  him. 

Among  the  earliest  newspaper  men  to  arrive  in 
Springfield  after  the  Chicago  convention  was  the 
late  J.  L.  Scripps  of  the  Chicago  Tribune^  who  pro- 
posed to  prepare  a  history  of  his  life.  Mr.  Lincoln 
deprecated  the  idea  of  writing  even  a  campaign 
biography.  **  Why,  Scripps,'*  said  he,  *^  it  is  a  great 
piece  of  folly  to  attempt  to  make  anything  out  of 
me  or  my  early  life.  It  can  all  be  condensed  into  a 
single  sentence,  and  that  sentence  you  will  find  in 
Gray's  Elegy, 

*  The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor.' 

That's  my  life,  and  that's  all  you  or  anyone  else 
can  make  out  of  it." 

He  did,  however,  communicate  some  facts  and 
meagre  incidents  of  his  early  days,  and,  with  the 
matter  thus  obtained,  Mr.  Scripps  prepared  his 
book.  Soon  after  the  death  of  Lincoln  I  received 
a  letter  from  Scripps,  in  which,  among  other  things, 
he  recalled  the  meeting  with  Lincoln,  and  the  view 
he  took  of  the  biography  matter. 

^*  Lincoln  seemed  to  be  painfully  impressed,"  he 
wrote,  "  with  the  extreme  poverty  of  his  early  sur^ 
roundings,  and  the  utter  absence  of  all  romantic 
and  heroic  elements.  He  communicated  some 
facts  to  me  concerning  his  ancestry,  which  he  did 
not  wish  to  have  published  then,  and  which  I  have 
never  spoken  of  or  alluded  to  before." 

What  the  facts  referred  to  by  Mr.  Scripps  were 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  3 

we  do  not  know ;  for  he  died  several  years  ago  with- 
out, so  far  as  is  known   reveahng  them  to  anyone. 

On  the  subject  of  his  ancestry  and  origin  I  only 
remember  one  time  when  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  referred 
to  it.  It  was  about  1 8 50,  when  he  and  I  were  driving 
m  his  one-horse  buggy  to  the  court  in,  Menard  county, 
Illinois.  The  suit  we  were  going  to  try  was  one  in 
which  we  were  likely,  either  directly  or  collaterally, 
to  touch  upon  the  subject  of  hereditary  traits.  Dur- 
ing the  ride  he  spoke,  for  the  first  time  in  my  hearing, 
of  his  mother,  dwelling  on  he**  characteristics,  and 
mentioning  or  enumerating  what  qualities  he  inherit^ 
ed  from  her.  He  said,  among  other  things,  that  she 
was  the  daughter  of  Lucy  Hanks  and  a  well-bred  but 
obscure  Virginia  farmer  or  planter ;  and  he  argued 
that  from  this  last  source  came  his  power  of  analysis, 
his  logic,  his  mental  activity,  his  ambition,  and  all 
the  qualities  that  distinguished  him  from  the  other 
members  and  descendants  of  the  Hanks  family. 

In  only  two  instances  did  Mr.  Lincoln  over  his 
own  hand  leave  any  record  of  his  history  or  family 
descent.  One  of  these  was  the  modest  bit  of  auto- 
biography furnished  to  Jesse  W.  Fell,  in  1859,  ^^ 
which,  after  stating  that  his  parents  were  born  in 
Virginia  of  "  undistinguished  or  second  families,"  he 
makes  the  brief  mention  of  his  mother,  saying  that 
she  came  ''  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Hanks."  ^  The 
other  record  was  the  register  of  marriages,  births,  and 
deaths  which  he  made  in  his  father's  Bible.     The 

*  If  anyone  will  take  the  pains  to  read  the  Fell  autobiography  they 
will  be  struck  with  Lincoln's  meagre  reference  to  his  mother.  He  even 
fails  to  give  her  maiden  or  Christian  name,  and  devotes  but  three  lines 
to  her  family.   A  history  of  the  Lincolns  occupies  almost  an  entire  page. 


4  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

latter  now  lies  before  me.  That  portion  of  the  page 
which  probably  contained  the  record  of  the  marriage 
of  his  parents,  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks, 
has  been  lost ;  but  fortunately  the  records  of  Wash- 
ington county,  Kentucky,  and  the  certificate  of  the 
minister  who  performed  the  marriage  ceremony — 
the  Rev.  Jesse  Head — fix  the  fact  and  date  of  the 
latter  on  the  12th  day  of  June,  1806. 

On  the  loth  day  of  February  in  the  following  year 
a  daughter  Sarah  ^  was  born,  and  two  years  later,  on 
the  1 2th  of  February,  the  subject  of  these  memoirs 
came  into  the  world.  After  him  came  the  last  child, 
a  boy— named  Thomas  after  his  father — who  lived 
but  a  few  days.  No  mention  of  his  existence  is 
found  in  the  Bible  record. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  the  grandfather  of  the  Presi- 
dent, emigrated  to  Jefferson  county,  Kentucky,  from 
Virginia,  about  1780,  and  from  that  time  forward 
the  former  State  became  an  important  one  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  family,  for  in  it  was  destined  to  be  born 
its  most  illustrious  member.  About  five  years  before 
this,  a  handful  of  Virginians  had  started  across  the 

*  Most  biographers  of  Lincoln,  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  sister, 
call  her  Nancy,  some — notably  Nicolay  and  Hay — insisting  that  she 
was  known  by  that  name  among  her  family  and  friends.  In  this 
they  are  in  error.  I  have  interviewed  the  different  members  of  the 
Hanks  and  Lincoln  families  who  survived  the  President,  and  her 
name  was  invariably  given  as  Sarah.  The  mistake,  I  think,  arises 
from  the  fact  that,  in  the  Bible  record  referred  to,  all  that  portion 
relating  to  the  birth  of  "  Sarah,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Nancy  Lin- 
coln," down  to  the  word  Nancy  has  been  torn  away,  and  the  latter 
name  has  therefore  been  taken  erroneously  for  that  of  the  daughter. 
Reading  the  entry  of  Abraham's  birth  below  satisfies  one  that  it 
m\ist  refer  to  the  mother. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN  5 

mountains  for  Kentucky,  and  in  the  company, 
besides  their  historian,  William  Calk, — whose  diary 
recently  came  to  light, — was  one  Abraham  Hanks. 
They  were  evidently  a  crowd  of  jolly  young  men 
bent  on  adventure  and  fun,  but  their  sport  was 
attended  with  frequent  disasters.  Their  journey 
began  at  **  Mr.  Priges*  tavern  on  the  Rapidan/' 
When  only  a  few  days  out  *^  Hanks*  Dog's  leg  got 
broke/'  Later  in  the  course  of  the  journey,  Hanks 
and  another  companion  became  separated  from  the 
rest  of  the  party  and  were  lost  in  the  mountains  for 
two  days  ;  in  crossing  a  stream  **  Abraham's  saddle 
turned  over  and  his  load  all  fell  in  Indian  creek '' ; 
finally  they  meet  their  brethren  from  whom  they 
have  been  separated  and  then  pursue  their  way 
without  further  interruption.  Returning  emigrants 
whom  they  meet,  according  to  the  journal  of  Calk^ 
•'  tell  such  News  of  the  indians  "  that  certain  mem*r 
bers  of  the  company  are  **  afrade  to  go  aney  further.' 
The  following  day  more  or  less  demoralization 
takes  place  among  the  members  of  this  pioneer 
party  when  the  announcement  is  made,  as  their 
chronicler  so  faithfully  records  it,  that  "  Philip 
Drake  Bakes  bread  without  washing  his  hands.*' 
This  was  an  unpardonable  sin,  and  at  it  they 
revolted.  A  day  later  the  record  shows  that 
**  Abram  turns  Back."  Beyond  this  we  shall  never 
know  what  became  of  Abraham  Hanks,  for  no  fur 
ther  mention  of  him  is  made  in  this  or  any  other 
history.  He  may  have  returned  to  Virginia  and 
become,  for  aught  we  know,  one  of  the  President's 
ancestors  on  the  maternal  side  of  the  house  ;   but  ii 


6  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

SO  his  illustrious  descendant  was  never  able  to  estab. 
lish  the  fact  or  trace  his  lineage  satisfactorily 
beyond  the  first  generation  which  preceded  him. 
He  never  mentioned  who  his  maternal  grandfather 
was,  if  indeed  he  knew. 

His  paternal  grandfather,  Abraham  Lincoln,*  the 
pioneer  from  Virginia,  met  his  death  within  two 
years  after  his  settlement  in  Kentucky  at  the  hands 
of  the  Indians  ;  **  not  in  battle,''  as  his  distinguished 
grandson  tells  us,  '*  but  by  stealth,  when  he  was 
laboring  to  open  a  farm  in  the  forest/'  The  story 
of  his  death  in  sight  of  his  youngest  son  Thomas, 
then  only  six  years  old,  is  by  no  means  a  new  one  to 
the  world.  In  fact  I  have  often  heard  the  President 
describe  the  tragedy  as  he  had  inherited  the  story 
from  his  father.  The  dead  pioneer  had  three  sons, 
Mordecai,  Josiah,  and  Thomas,  in  the  order  named. 
When  the  father  fell,  Mordecai,  having  hastily  sent 
Josiah  to  the  neighboring  fort  after  assistance,  ran 
into  the  cabin,  and  pointing  his  rifle  through  a 
crack  between  the  logs,  prepared  for  defense. 
Presently  an  Indian  came  stealing  up  to  the  dead 
father's  body.  Beside  the  latter  sat  the  little  boy 
Thomas.  Mordecai  took  deliberate  aim  at  a  silver 
crescent  which  hung  suspended  from  the  Indian's 
breast,  and  brought  him  to  the  ground.  Josiah 
returned  from  the  fort  with  the  desired  relief,  and 

>  .    .      . — • 

*"They  [the  Lincolns]  were  also  called  Linkhorns.  The  old 
settlers  had  a  way  oi  pronouncing  names  not  as  they  were  spelled, 
but  rather,  it  seemed,  as  they  pleased.  Thus  they  called  Medcalt 
•  Medcap,'  and  Kaster  they  pronounced  *  Custard.*  " — MS.  letter^ 
Charles  Friend,  March  19,  1866. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  J 

the  savages  were  easily  dispersed,  leaving  behind 
one  dead  and  one  wounded. 

The  tragic  death  of  his  father  filled  Mordecai 
with  an  intense  hatred  of  the  Indians — a  feeling 
from  which  he  never  recovered.  It  was  ever  with 
him  like  an  avenging  spirit.  From  Jefferson  county 
he  removed  to  Grayson,  where  he  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days.  A  correspondent  ^  from 
there  wrote  me  in  1865:  **  Old  Mordecai  was  easily 
stirred  up  by  the  sight  of  an  Indian.  One 
time,  hearing  of  a  few  Indians  passing  through 
the  county,  he  mounted  his  horse,  and  taking  his 
rifle  on  his  shoulder,  followed  on  after  them  and 
was  gone  two  days.  When  he  returned  he  said 
he  left  one  lying  in  a  sink  hole.  The  Indians,  he 
said,  had  killed  his  father,  and  he  was  determined 
before  he  died  to  have  satisfaction.**  The  young, 
est  boy,  Thomas,  retained  a  vivid  recollection  of  his 
father's  death,  which,  together  with  other  remi- 
niscences of  his  boyhood,  he  was  fond  of  relating 
later  in  life  to  his  children  to  relieve  the  tedium 
of  long  winter  evenings.  Mordecai  and  Josiah,t 
both  remaining  in  Kentucky,  became  the  heads  of 
good-sized  families,  and  although  never  known  or 

*W.  T.  Claggett,  unpublished  MS. 

t  "  I  knew  Mordecai  and  Josiah  Lincoln  intimately.  They  were 
excellent  men,  plain,  moderately  educated,  candid  in  their  manners 
and  intercourse,  and  looked  upon  as  honorable  as  any  men  I  have 
ever  heard  of.  Mordecai  was  the  oldest  son,  and  his  father  having 
been  killed  by  the  Indians  before  the  law  of  primogeniture  was 
repealed,  he  inherited  a  very  competent  estate.  The  others  were 
poor.  Mordecai  was  celebrated  for  his  bravery,  and  had  been  in  the 
early  campaigns  of  the  West/'-Henry  Pirtle.  letter.  June  17, 186c;,  MS 


8  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

heard  of  outside  the  limits  of  the  neighborhoods  in 
which  they  lived,  were  intelligent,  well-to-do  men. 
In  Thomas,  roving  and  shiftless,  to  whom  was 
'*  reserved  the  honor  of  an  illustrious  paternity,**  are 
we  alone  interested.  He  was,  we  are  told,  five  feet 
ten  inches  high,  weighed  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  pounds,  had  a  well-rounded  face,  dark  hazel 
eyes,  coarse  black  hair,  and  was  slightly  stoop- 
shouldered.  His  build  was  so  compact  that  Dennis 
Hanks  used  to  say  he  could  not  find  the  point  of 
separation  between  his  ribs.  He  was  proverbially 
slow  of  movement,  mentally  and  physically  ;  was 
careless,  inert,  and  dull  ;  was  sinewy,  and  gifted 
with  great  strength ;  was  inoffensively  quiet  and 
peaceable,  but  when  roused  to  resistance  a  danger- 
ous  antagonist.  He  had  a  liking  for  jokes  and 
stories,  which  was  one  of  the  few  traits  he  trans- 
mitted to  his  illustrious  son  ;  was  fond  of  the  chase, 
and  had  no  marked  aversion  for  the  bottle,  though 
in  the  latter  case  he  indulged  no  more  freely  than 
the  average  Kentuckian  of  his  day.  At  the  time 
of  his  marriage  to  Nancy  Hanks  he  could  neither 
read  nor  write  ;  but  his  wife,  who  was  gifted  with 
more  education,  and  was  otherwise  his  mental  supe- 
rior, taught  him,  it  is  said,  to  write  his  name  and 
to  read — at  least,  he  was  able  in  later  years  to  spell 
his  way  slowly  through  the  Bible,  In  his  relig- 
ious belief  he  first  affiliated  with  the  Free-Will 
Baptists.  After  his  removal  to  Indiana  he  changed 
his  adherence  to  the  Presbyterians — or  Predestina- 
rians,  as  they  were  then  called — and  later  united 
with  the  Christian — vulgarly  called    Campbellite— 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  9 

Church,  in  which  latter  faith  he  is  supposed  to  have 
died.  He  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  essayed 
farming  too  ;  but  in  this,  as  in  almost  every  other 
undertaking,  he  was  singularly  unsuccessful.  He 
was  placed  in  possession  of  several  tracts  of  land  at 
different  times  in  his  life,  but  was  never  able  to  pay 
for  a  single  one  of  them.  The  farm  on  which  he 
died  was  one  his  son  purchased,  providing  a  life 
estate  therein  for  him  and  his  wife.  He  never  fell 
in  with  the  routine  of  labor ;  was  what  some  people 
would  call  unfortunate  or  unlucky  in  all  his  business 
ventures — if  in  reality  he  ever  made  one — and  died 
near  the  village  of  Farmington  in  Coles  county, 
Illinois,  on  the  17th  day  of  January,  185 1.  His  son, 
on  account  of  sickness  in  his  own  family,  was 
unable  to  be  present  at  his  father*s  bedside,  or  wit- 
ness his  death.  To  those  who  notified  him  of  his 
probable  demise  he  wrote  :  '*  I  sincerely  hope  that 
father  may  yet  recover  his  health  ;  but  at  all  events 
tell  him  to  remember  to  call  upon  and  confide  in 
our  great  and  good  and  merciful  Maker,  who  will 
not  turn  away  from  him  in  any  extremity.  He 
notes  the  fall  of  a  sparrow,  and  numbers  the  hairs 
of  our  heads  ;  and  He  will  not  forget  the  dying  man 
who  puts  his  trust  in  him.  Say  to  him  that  if  we 
could  meet  now  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  would  not 
be  more  painful  than  pleasant  ;  but  that  if  it  be  his 
lot  to  go  now  he  will  soon  have  a  joyous  meeting 
with  the  many  loved  ones  gone  before,  and  where 
the  rest  of  us,  through  the  help  of  God,  hope  ere 
long  to  join  them/*  "^ 

*  MS.  letter  to  John  Johnston,  Jan.  12,  1851. 


lO  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

Nancy  Hanks,  the  mother  of  the  President,  at  a 
very  early  age  was  taken  from  her  mother  Lucy — 
afterwards  married  to  Henry  Sparrow — and  sent  to 
live  with  her  aunt  and  uncle,  Thomas  and  Betsy 
Sparrow.  Under  this  same  roof  the  irrepressible 
and  cheerful  waif,  Dennis  Hanks  ^ — whose  name  will 
be  frequently  seen  in  these  pages — also  found  a  shel- 
ter.  At  the  time  of  her  marriage  to  Thomas  Lin- 
coln, Nancy  was  in  her  twenty-third  year.  She 
was  above  the  ordinary  height  in  stature,  weighed 
about  130  pounds,  was  slenderly  built,  and  had 
much  the  appearance  of  one  inclined  to  consump- 
tion.  Her  skin  was  dark;  hair  dark  brown;  eyes 
gray  and  small ;  forehead  prominent ;  face  sharp  and 
angular,  with  a  marked  expression  of  melancholy 
which  fixed  itself  in  the  memory  of  everyone  who 
«ver  saw  or  knew  her.  Though  her  life  was  seem- 
ingly beclouded  by  a  spirit  of  sadness,  she  was  in 
disposition  amiable  and  generally  cheerful.  Mr. 
Lincoln  himself  said  to  me  in  185 1,  on  receiving 
the  news  of  his  father's  death,  that  whatever  might 
be  said  of  his  parents,  and  however  unpromising  the 
early  surroundings  of  his  mother  may  have  been,  she 
was  highly  intellectual  by  nature,  had  a  strong 
memory,  acute  judgment,  and  was  cool  and  heroic. 
From  a  mental  standpoint  she  no  doubt  rose  above 
her  surroundings,  and  had  she  lived,  the  stimulus  of 

*  Dennis  Hanks,  still  living  at  the  age  of  ninety  years  in  Illinois, 
was  the  son  of  another  Nancy  Hanks— the  aunt  of  the  President's 
mother.  He  furnished  Mr.  Weik  and  me  with  much  interesting 
information,  especially  facts  and  incidents  relating  to  early  life  in 
Indiana. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLI^.  1 1 

her  nature  would  have  accelerated  her  son's  success, 
and  she  would  have  been  a  much  more  ambitious 
prompter  than  his  father  ever  was. 

As  a  family  the  Hankses  were  peculiar  to  the  civ- 
ilization of  early  Kentucky.  Illiterate  and  super- 
stitious, they  corresponded  to  that  nomadic  class 
still  to  be  met  with  throughout  the  South,  and 
known  as  "  poor  whites/*  They  are  happily  and 
vividly  depicted  in  the  description  of  a  camp-meet- 
ing held  at  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  in  1806,  which 
was  furnished  me  in  August,  1865,  by  an  eye-wit- 
ness. *  **The  Hanks  girls,'*  narrates  the  latter, 
**were  great  at  camp-meetings.  I  remember  one 
in  1806.  I  will  give  you  a  scene,  and  if  you  will 
then  read  the  books  written  on  the  subject  you  may 
find  some  apology  for  the  superstition  that  was  said 
to  be  in  Abe  Lincoln's  character.  It  was  at  a 
camp-meeting,  as  before  said,  when  a  general  shout 
was  about  to  commence.  Preparations  were  being 
made ;  a  young  lady  invited  me  to  stand  on  a  bench 
by  her  side  where  we  could  see  all  over  the  altar. 
To  the  right  a  strong,  athletic  young  man,  about 
twenty-five  years  old,  was  being  put  in  trim  for  the 
occasion,  which  was  done  by  divesting  him  of  all 
apparel  except  shirt  and  pants.  On  the  left  a 
young  lady  was  being  put  in  trim  in  much  the  same 
manner,  so  that  her  clothes  would  not  be  in  the 
way,  and  so  that,  when  her  combs  flew  out,  her  hair 
would  go  into  graceful  braids.  She,  too,  was 
young — not  more  than  twenty  perhaps.     The  per- 

>  • r 

*T.  B.  Helm,  MS. 


12  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

formance  commenced  about  the  same  time  by  the 
young  man  on  the  right  and  the  young  lady  on  the 
left.  Slowly  and  gracefully  they  worked  their  way 
towards  the  centre,  singing,  shouting,  hugging  and 
kissing,  generally  their  own  sex,  until  at  last  nearer 
and  nearer  they  came.  The  centre  of  the  altar  was 
reached,  and  the  two  closed,  with  their  arms  around 
each  other,  the  man  singing  and  shouting  at  the 
top  of  his  voice, 

"  *  I  have  my  Jesus  in  my  arms 

Sweet  as  honey,  strong  as  bacon  ham.' 

**  Just  at  this  moment  the  young  lady  holding  to 
my  arm  whispered,  *  They  are  to  be  married  next 
week ;  her  name  is  Hanks.'  There  were  very  few 
who  did  not  believe  this  true  religion,  inspired  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  man  who  could  not  believe 
it,  did  well  to  keep  it  to  himself.  The  Hankses  were 
the  finest  singers  and  shouters  in  our  country.** 

Here  my  informant  stops,  and  on  account  of  his 
death  several  years  ago  I  failed  to  learn  whether 
the  young  lady  shouter  who  figured  in  the  foregoing 
scene  was  the  President's  mother  or  not.  The  fact 
that  Nancy  Hanks  did  marry  that  year  gives  color 
to  the  belief  that  it  was  she.  As  to  the  probability 
of  the  young  man  being  Thomas  Lincoln  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say ;  such  a  performance  as  the  one  de- 
scribed must  have  required  a  little  more  emotion 
and  enthusiasm  than  the  tardy  and  inert  carpenter 
was  in  the  habit  of  manifesting. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Sarah,  the  sister  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  though  in 
some  respects  like  her  brother,  lacked  his  stature. 
She  was  thick-set,  had  dark-brown  hair,  deep-gray 
eyes,  and  an  even  disposition.  In  contact  with 
others  she  was  kind  and  considerate^  Her  nature 
was  one  of  amiability,  and  God  had  endowed  her 
with  that  invincible  combination — modesty  and 
good  sense.  Strange  to  say,  Mr.  Lincoln  never  said 
much  about  his  sister  in  after  years,  and  we  are 
really  indebted  to  the  Hankses — Dennis  and  John — 
for  the  little  we  have  learned  about  this  rather  un- 
fortunate young  woman.  She  was  married  to 
Aaron  Grigsby,  in  Spencer  county,  Indiana,  in  the 
month  of  August,  1826,  and  died  January  20,  1828. 
Her  brother  accompanied  her  to  school  while  they 
lived  in  Kentucky,  but  as  he  was  only  seven,  and 
as  she  had  not  yet  finished  her  ninth  year  when 
their  father  removed  with  them  to  Indiana,  it  is  to 
be  presumed  that  neither  made  much  progress  in 
the  matter  of  school  education.  Still  it  is  authori- 
tatively stated  that  they  attended  two  schools  dur- 
ing this  short  period.  One  of  these  was  kept  by 
Zachariah  Riney,  the  other  by  Caleb  Hazel.  It 
is  difficult  at  this  late  day  to  learn  much  of  the  boy 
Abraham's   life  during  those  seven    years   of   resi* 


14  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

dcnce  in  Kentucky.     One  man,  *  who  was  a  clerk  in 

the  principal  store  in  the  village  where  the  Lincolns 
purchased  their  family  supplies,  remembers  him  as 
a  **  small  boy  who  came  sometimes  to  the  store  with 
his  mother.  He  would  take  his  seat  on  a  keg  of 
nails,  and  I  would  give  him  a  lump  of  sugar.  He 
would  sit  there  and  eat  it  like  any  other  boy  ;  but 
these  little  acts  of  kindness,''  observes  my  inform- 
ant, in  an  enthusiastic  statement  made  in  1865,  **so 
impressed  his  mind  that  I  made  a  steadfast  friend 
in  a  man  whose  power  and  influence  have  since 
been  felt  throughout  the  world.**  A  school-mate  f 
of  Lincoln's  at  Hazel's  school,  speaking  of  the  mas- 
ter, says  :^*  He  perhaps  could  teach  spelling  and 
reading  and  indifferent  writing,  and  possibly  could 
cipher  to  the  rule  of  three  ;  but  he  had  no  other 
qualification  of  a  teacher,  unless  we  accept  large  size 
and  bodily  strength.  Abe  was  a  mere  spindle 
of  a  boy,  had  his  due  proportion  of  harmless  mis- 
chief, but  as  we  lived  in  a  country  abounding  in 
hazel  switches,  in  the  virtue  of  which  the  master 
had  great  faith,  Abe  of  course  received  his  due 
allowance." 

This  part  of  the  boy's  history  is  painfully  vague 
and  dim,  and  even  after  arriving  at  man's  estate 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  significantly  reserved  when  refer- 
ence was  made  to  it.  It  is  barely  mentioned  in  the 
autobiography  furnished  to  Fell  in  1859.  John 
Duncan, :[  afterwards   a     preacher   of   some   promi- 

*  John  B.  Helm,  June  20,  1865. 

I  Samuel  Haycraft,  December  6,  1866. 

%  Letter,  February  21,  1867. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 5 

nence  in  Kentucky,  relates  how  he  and  Abe  on 
one  occasion  ran  a  ground-hog  into  a  crevice  be- 
tween two  rocks,  and  after  working  vainly  almost 
two  hours  to  get  him  out,  *^Abe  ran  off  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  a  blacksmith  shop,  and 
returned  with  an  iron  hook  fastened  to  the  end  of  a 
pole,"  and  with  this  rude  contrivance  they  virtually 
*' hooked  "the  animal  out  of  his  retreat.  Austin 
Gollaher  of  Hodgensville,  claims  to  have  saved  Lin- 
coln from  drowning  one  day  as  they  were  trying  to 
**  coon  it''  across  Knob  creek  on  a  log.  The  boys 
were  in  pursuit  of  birds,  when  young  Lincoln  fell 
into  the  water,  and  his  vigilant  companion,  who 
still  survives  to  narrate  the  thrilling  story,  fished 
him  out  with  a  sycamore  branch. 

Meanwhile  Thomas  Lincoln  was  becoming  daily 
more  dissatisfied  with  his  situation  and  surround- 
ings. He  had  purchased,  since  his  marriage,  on  the 
easy  terms  then  prevalent,  two  farms  or  tracts  of 
land  in  succession  ;  no  terms  were  easy  enough  for 
him,  and  the  land,  when  the  time  for  the  payment  of 
the  purchase-money  rolled  around,  reverted  to  its 
former  owner.  Kentucky,  at  that  day,  afforded 
few  if  any  privileges,  and  possessed  fewer  advan- 
tages to  allure  the  poor  man  ;  and  no  doubt  so  it 
seemed  to  Thomas  Lincoln.  The  land  he  occupied 
was  sterile  and  broken.  A  mere  barren  glade,  and 
destitute  of  timber,  it  required  a  persistent  effort  to 
coax  a  living  out  of  it ;  and  to  one  of  his  easy-going 
disposition,  life  there  was  a  never-ending  struggle. 
Stories  of  vast  stretches  of  rich  and  unoccupied 
lands  in  Indiana  reaching  his  ears,  and  despairing  of 


1 6  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

the  prospect  of  any  betterment  in  his  condition  so 
long  as  he  remained  in  Kentucky,  he  resolved,  at 
last,  to  leave  the  State  and  seek  a  more  inviting 
lodgment  beyond  the  Ohio.  The  assertion  made 
by  some  of  Mr.  Lincoln*s  biographers,  and  so  often 
repeated  by  sentimental  writers,  that  his  father  left 
Kentucky  to  avoid  the  sight  of  or  contact  with 
slavery,  lacks  confirmation.  In  all  Hardin  county 
— at  that  time  a  large  area  of  territory — there 
were  not  over  fifty  slaves ;  and  it  is  doubtful  if  he 
saw  enough  of  slavery  to  fill  him  with  the  righteous 
opposition  to  the  institution  with  which  he  has  so 
frequently  been  credited.  Moreover,  he  never  in 
later  years  manifested  any  especial  aversion  to 
it. 

Having  determined  on  emigrating  to  Indiana,  he 
began  preparations  for  removal  in  the  fall  of  1816 
by  building  for  his  use  a  flat-boat.  Loading  it  with 
his  tools  and  other  personal  effects,  including  in  the 
invoice,  as  we  are  told,  four  hundred  gallons  of 
whiskey,  he  launched  his  **  crazy  craft ''  on  a  tribu- 
tary of  Salt  creek  known  as  the  Rolling  Fork. 
Along  with  the  current  he  floated  down  to  the  Ohio 
river,  but  his  rudely-made  vessel,  either  from  the 
want  of  experience  in  its  navigator,  or  because  of 
its  ill  adaptation  to  withstand  the  force  and  caprices 
of  the  currents  in  the  great  river,  capsized  one  day, 
and  boat  and  cargo  went  to  the  bottom.  The  luck- 
less boatman  set  to  work  however,  and  by  dint  of 
great  patience  and  labor  succeeded  in  recovering 
the  tools  and  the  bulk  of  the  whiskey.  Righting 
his  boat,  he  continued  down  the  river,  landing  at  a 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 7 

point  called  Thompson's  Ferry,  in  Perry  county,  on 
the  Indiana  side.  Here  he  disposed  of  his  vessel, 
and  placing  his  goods  in  the  care  of  a  settler  named 
Posey,  he  struck  out  through  the  interior  in  search 
of  a  location  for  his  new  home.  Sixteen  miles  back 
from  the  river  he  found  one  that  pleased  his  fancy, 
and  he  marked  it  off  for  himself.  His  next  move  in 
the  order  of  business  was  a  journey  to  Vincennes  to 
purchase  the  tract  at  the  Land  Office — under  the 
*^  two-dollar-an-acre  law,"  as  Dennis  Hanks  puts  it 
— and  a  return  to  the  land  to  identify  it  by  blazing 
the  trees  and  piling  up  brush  on  the  corners  to 
establish  the  proper  boundary  lines.  Having  se- 
cured a  place  for  his  home  he  trudged  back  to  Ken- 
tucky— walking  all  the  way — for  his  family.  Two 
horses  brought  them  and  all  their  household  effects 
to  the  Indiana  shore.  Posey  kindly  gave  or  hired 
them  the  use  of  a  wagon,  into  which  they  packed 
not  only  their  furniture  and  carpenter  tools,  but  the 
liquor,  which  it  is  presumed  had  lain  undisturbed  in 
the  former's  cellar.  Slowly  and  carefully  picking 
their  way  through  the  dense  woods,  they  at  last 
reached  their  destination  on  the  banks  of  Little 
Pigeon  creek.  There  were  some  detentions  on  the 
way,  but  no  serious  mishaps. 

The  head  of  the  household  now  set  resolutely  to 
work  to  build  a  shelter  for  his  family. 

The  structure,  when  completed,  was  fourteen  feet 
square,  and  was  built  of  small  unhewn  logs.  In  the 
language  of  the  day,  it  was  called  a  ''  half-faced 
camp,**  being  enclosed  on  all  sides  but  one.  It  had 
neither  floor,  door,  nor  windows-     In  this  forbidding 


1 8  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

hovel  these  doughty  emigrants  braved  the  exposure 
of  the  varying  seasons  for  an  entire  year.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  Thomas  and  Betsy  Sparrow  foU 
lowed,  bringing  with  them  Dennis  Hanks;  and  to 
them  Thomas  Lincoln  surrendered  the  **  half-faced 
camp,"  while  he  moved  into  a  more  pretentious 
structure — a  cabin  enclosed  on  all  sides.  The  coun- 
try was  thickly  covered  with  forests  of  walnut, 
beech,  oak,  elm,  maple,  and  an  undergrowth  of 
dog-wood,  sumac,  and  wild  grape-vine.  In  places 
where  the  growth  was  not  so  thick  grass  came  up 
abundantly,  and  hogs  found  plenty  of  food  in  the 
unlimited  quantity  of  mast  the  woods  afforded. 
The  country  abounded  in  bear,  deer,  turkey,  and 
other  wild  game,  which  not  only  satisfied  the 
pioneer*s  love  for  sport,  but  furnished  his  table  with 
its  supply  of  meat. 

Thomas  Lincoln,  with  the  aid  of  the  Hankses  and 
Sparrows,  was  for  a  time  an  attentive  farmer.  The 
implements  of  agriculture  then  in  use  were  as  rude 
as  they  were  rare,  and  yet  there  is  nothing  to  show 
that  in  spite  of  the  slow  methods  then  in  vogue  he 
did  not  make  commendable  speed.  **  We  raised 
corn  mostly  '* — relates  Dennis — **  and  some  wheat — 
enough  for  a  cake  Sunday  morning.  Hog  and  veni- 
son hams  were  a  legal  tender,  and  coon  skins  also. 
We  raised  sheep  and  cattle,  but  they  did  not  bring 
much.  Cows  and  calves  were  only  worth  six  to 
eight  dollars ;  corn  ten  cents,  and  wheat  twenty-five 
cents,  a  bushel."  So  with  all  his  application  and 
frugality  the   head    of   this   ill-assorted    household 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  I^ 

made  but  little  headway  in  the  accumulation  of  the 
world's  goods.  We  are  told  that  he  was  indeed  a 
poor  man,  and  that  during  his  entire  stay  in  Indi- 
ana his  land  barely  yielded  him  sufficient  return 
to  keep  his  larder  supplied  with  the  commonest 
necessaries  of  life.  His  skill  as  a  hunter — though 
never  brought  into  play  unless  at  the  angered  de- 
mand of  a  stomach  hungry  for  meat — in  no  slight 
degree  made  up  for  the  lack  of  good  management 
in  the  cultivation  of  his  land.  His  son  Abraham* 
never  evinced  the  same  fondness  for  hunting, 
although  his  cousin  Dennis  with  much  pride  tells 
us  how  he  could  kill  a  wild  turkey  on  the  wing. 
*'At  that  time,"  relates  one  of  the  latter's  play- 
mates,t  descanting  on  the  abundance  of  wild  game, 
''  there  were  a  great  many  deer-licks  ;  and  Abe  and 
myself  would  go  to  these  licks  sometimes  and  watch 
of  nights  to  kill  deer,  though  Abe  was  not  so  fond 
of  a  gun  or  the  sport  as  I  was.":]: 


*  "  Abe  was  a  good  boy — an  affectionate  one — a  boy  who  loved 
his  parents  well  and  was  obedient  to  their  every  wish.  Although 
anything  but  an  impudent  or  rude  boy  he  was  sometimes  uncomfort- 
ably inquisitive.  When  strangers  would  ride  along  or  pass  by  his 
father's  fence  he  always — either  through  boyish  pride  or  to  tease  his 
father — would  be  sure  to  ask  the  first  question.  His  father  would 
sometimes  knock  him  over.  When  thus  punished  he  never  bellowed, 
but  dropped  a  kind  of  silent,  unwelcome  tear  as  evidence  of  his 
sensitiveness  or  other  feelings." — Dennis  Hanks,  MS.,  June  13,  1865. 

t  David  Turnham,  MS.  letter,  June  10,  1866. 

X  Mr.  Lincoln  used  to  relate  the  following  "  coon  "  story  :  His  father 
had  at  home  a  little  yellow  house-dog,  which  invariably  gave  the 
alarm  if  the  boys  undertook  to  slip  away  unobserved  after  night  had 
set  in — as  they  oftentimes   did — to  go   coon  hunting.     One  evening 


20  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

The  cabin  to  which  the  Lincoln  family  removed 
after  leaving  the  little  half-faced  camp  to  the  Spar- 
rows was  in  some  respects  a  pretentious  structure.  It 
was  of  hewed  logs,  and  was  eighteen  feet  square.  It 
was  high  enough  to  admit  of  a  loft,  where  Abe  slept, 
and  to  which  he  ascended  each  night  by  means  of 
pegs  driven  in  the  wall.  The  rude  furniture  was 
in  keeping  with  the  surroundings.  Three-legged 
stools  answered  for  chairs.  The  bedstead,  made  of 
poles  fastened  in  the  cracks  of  the  logs  on  one  side, 
and  supported  by  a  crotched  stick  driven  in  the 
ground  floor  on  the  other,  was  covered  with  skins, 
leaves,  and  old  clothes.  A  table  of  the  same  finish 
as  the  stools,  a  few  pewter  dishes,  a  Dutch  oven, 
and  a  skillet  completed  the  household  outfit.  In 
this  uninviting  frontier  structure  the  future  Pres- 
ident was  destined  to  pass  the  greater  part  of  his 
boyhood.  Withal  his  spirits  were  light,  and  it  can- 
Abe  and  his  step-brother,  John  Johnston,  with  the  usual  complement 
of  boys  required  in  a  sucessful  coon  hunt,  took  the  insignificant 
little  cur  with  them.  They  located  the  coveted  coon,  killed  him,  and 
then  in  a  sportive  vein  sewed  the  hide  on  the  diminutive  yellow  dog. 
The  latter  struggled  vigorously  during  the  operation  of  sewing  on, 
and  being  released  from  the  hands  of  his  captors  made  a  bee-line  for 
home.  Other  large  and  more  important  canines,  on  the  way, 
scenting  coon,  tracked  the  little  animal  home,  and  possibly  mistaking 
him  for  real  coon,  speedily  demolished  him.  The  next  morning  old 
Thomas  Lincoln  discovered  lying  in  his  yard  the  lifeless  remains 
of  yellow  "  Joe,"  with  strong  proof  of  coon-skin  accompaniment. 
"  Father  was  much  incensed  at  his  death,"  observed  Mr.  Lincoln,  in 
relating  the  story,  "  but  as  John  and  I.  scantily  protected  from  the 
morning  wind,  stood  shivering  in  the  doorway,  we  felt  assured  little 
yellow  Joe  would  never  be  able  again  to  sound  the  call  for  another 
coon  hunt." 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  2 1 

not  be  denied  that  he  must  have  enjoyed  unre- 
strained pleasure  in  his  surroundings.  It  is  related 
that  one  day  the  only  thing  that  graced  the  dinner- 
table  was  a  dish  of  roasted  potatoes.  The  elder 
Lincoln,  true  to  the  custom  of  the  day,  returned 
thanks  for  the  blessing.  The  boy,  realizing  the 
scant  proportions  of  the  meal,  looked  up  into  his 
father's  face  and  irreverently  observed,  **  Dad,  I  call 
these  " — meaning  the  potatoes — '*  mighty  poor  bless- 
ings." Among  other  children  of  a  similar  age  he 
seemed  unconsciously  to  take  the  lead,  and  it  is  no 
stretch  of  the  truth  to  say  that  they,  in  turn,  looked 
up  to  him.  He  may  have  been  a  little  precocious — 
children  sometimes  are — but  in  view  of  the  summary 
treatment  received  at  the  hands  of  his  father  it 
cannot  truthfully  be  said  he  was  a  *'  spoiled  child." 
One  morning  when  his  mother  was  at  work  he  ran 
into  the  cabin  from  the  outside  to  enquire,  with  a 
quizzical  grin,  '*  Who  was  the  father  of  Zebedee's 
children  ?  ''  As  many  another  mother  before  and 
since  has  done,  she  brushed  the  mischievous  young 
inquirer  aside  to  attend  to  some  more  important 
detail  of  household  concern."^ 

The  dull  routine  of  chores  and  household  errands 
in  the  boy's  every-day  life  was  brightened  now  and 
then  by  a  visit  to  the  mill.  I  often  in  later  years 
heard  Mr.  Lincoln  say  that  going  to  mill  gave  him 
the  greatest  pleasure  of  his  boyhood  days. 

^^  We  had  to  go  seven  miles  to  mill,"  relates 
David  Turnham,  the  friend  of  his  youth,  ^'  and  then 

*  Harriet  Chapman,  MS.  letter. 


22  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

it  was  a  hand-mill  that  would  only  grind  from  fif- 
teen to  twenty  bushels  of  corn  in  a  day.  There 
was  but  little  wheat  grown  at  that  time,  and  when 
we  did  have  wheat  we  had  to  grind  it  in  the  mill 
described  and  use  it  without  bolting,  as  there  were 
no  bolts  in  the  country.  Abe  and  I  had  to  do  the 
milling,  frequently  going  twice  to  get  one  grist.** 

In  his  eleventh  year  he  began  that  marvellous  and 
rapid  growth  in  stature  for  which  he  was  so  widely 
noted  in  the  Pigeon  creek  settlement.  "As  he 
shot  up,*'  says  Turnham,  '^  he  seemed  to  change  in 
appearance  and  action.  Although  quick-witted  and 
ready  with  an  answer,  he  began  to  exhibit  deep 
thoughtfulness,  and  was  so  often  lost  in  studied 
reflection  we  could  not  help  noticing  the  strange 
turn  in  his  actions.  He  disclosed  rare  timidity  and 
sensitiveness,  especially  in  the  presence  of  men  and 
women,  and  although  cheerful  enough  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  boys,  he  did  not  appear  to  seek  our 
company  as  earnestly  as  before.*'  ^  It  was  only  the 
development  we  find  in  the  history  of  every  boy. 
Nature  was  a  little  abrupt  in  the  case  of  Abraham 
Lincoln;  she  tossed  him  from  the  nimbleness  of 
boyhood  to  the  gravity  of  manhood  in  a  single 
night. 

In  the  fall  of  1818,  the  scantily  settled  region  in 
the  vicinity  of  Pigeon  creek — where  the  Lincolns 
were  then  living — suffered  a  visitation  of  that  dread 
disease  common  in  the  West  in  early  days,  and 
known   in  the  vernacular  of   the  frontier   as   **  the 

*  D.  Turnham,  MS.  letter. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  23 

milk-sick/'  It  hovered  like  a  spectre  over  the  Pig- 
eon creek  settlement  for  over  ten  years,  and  its 
fatal  visitation  and  inroads  among  the  Lincolns, 
Hankses,  and  Sparrows  finally  drove  that  contin^ 
gent  into  Illinois.  To  this  day  the  medical  profes- 
sion has  never  agreed  upon  any  definite  cause  for 
the  malady,  nor  have  they  in  all  their  scientific 
wrangling  determined  exactly  what  the  disease  it- 
self is.  A  physician,  who  has  in  his  practice  met  a 
number  of  cases,  describes  the  symptoms  to  be  **  a 
whitish  coat  on  the  tongue,  burning  sensation  of 
the  stomach,  severe  vomiting,  obstinate  constipa- 
tion of  the  bowels,  coolness  of  the  extremities, 
great  restlessness  and  jactitation,  pulse  rather  small, 
somewhat  more  frequent  than  natural,  and  slightly 
chorded.  In  the  course  of  the  disease  the  coat  on 
the  tongue  becomes  brownish  and  dark,  the  counte- 
nance dejected,  and  the  prostration  of  the  patient  is 
great.  A  fatal  termination  may  take  place  in  sixty 
hours,  or  life  may  be  prolonged  for  a  period  of  four- 
teen days.  These  are  the  symptoms  of  the  disease 
in  an  acute  form.  Sometimes  it  runs  into  the 
chronic  form,  or  it  may  assume  that  form  from  the 
commencement,  and  after  months  or  years  the 
patient  may  finally  die  or  recover  only  a  partial 
degree  of  health." 

When  the  disease  broke  out  in  the  Pigeon  creek 
region  it  not  only  took  off  the  people,  but  it  made 
sad  havoc  among  the  cattle.  One  man  testifies 
that  he  ''  lost  four  milch  cows  and  eleven  calves  in 
one  week.*'  This,  in  addition  to  the  risk  of  losing 
his  own  life,  was  enough,  he  declared,  to  ruin  him, 


24  ^-^^  L^F^  OF  LINCOLN, 

and    prompted   him    to    leave    for  '*  points   further 
west/* 

Early  in  October  of  the  year  1818,  Thomas  and 
Betsy  Sparrow  fell  ill  of  the  disease  and  died  with- 
in a  few  days  of  each  other.  Thomas  Lincoln  per- 
formed the  services  of  undertaker.  With  his  whip- 
saw  he  cut  out  the  lumber,  and  with  commendable 
promptness  he  nailed  together  the  rude  coffins  to 
enclose  the  forms  of  the  dead.  The  bodies  were 
borne  to  a  scantily  cleared  knoll  in  the  midst  of  the 
forest,  and  there,  without  ceremony,  quietly  let 
down  into  the  grave.  Meanwhile  Abe's  mother 
had  also  fallen  a  victim  to  the  insidious  disease. 
Her  sufferings,  however,  were  destined  to  be  of 
brief  duration.  Within  a  week  she  too  rested  from 
her  labors.  '*  She  struggled  on,  day  by  day,"  says 
one  of  the  household,  *'  a  good  Christian  woman, 
and  died  on  the  seventh  day  after  she  was  taken 
sick.  Abe  and  his  sister  Sarah  waited  on  their 
mother,  and  did  the  little  jobs  and  errands  required 
of  them.  There  was  no  physician  nearer  than 
thirty-five  miles.  The  mother  knew  she  was  going 
to  die,  and  called  the  children  to  her  bedside.  She 
was  very  weak,  and  the  children  leaned  over  while 
she  gave  her  last  message.  Placing  her  feeble  hand 
on  little  Abe's  head  she  told  him  to  be  kind  and 
good  to  his  father  and  sister ;  to  both  she  said,  *  Be 
good  to  one  another,'  expressing  a  hope  that  they 
might  live,  as  they  had  been  taught  by  her,  to  love 
their  kindred  and  worship  God."  Amid  the  misera- 
ble surroundings  of  a  home  in  the  wilderness  Nancy 
Hanks  passed   across  the  dark   river.     Though  of 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  25 

lowly  birth,  the  victim  of  poverty  and  hard  usage, 
she  takes  a  place  in  history  as  the  mother  of  a  son 
who  liberated  a  race  of  men.  At  her  side  stands 
another  Mother  whose  son  performed  a  similar  ser- 
vice for  all  mankind  eighteen  hundred  years  before. 
After  the  death  of  their  mother  little  Abe  and 
his  sister  Sarah  began  a  dreary  life — indeed,  one 
more  cheerless  and  less  inviting  seldom  falls  to  the 
lot  of  any  child.  In  a  log-cabin  without  a  floor, 
scantily  protected  from  the  severities  of  the 
weather,  deprived  of  the  comfort  of  a  mother's  love, 
they  passed  through  a  winter  the  most  dismal  either 
one  ever  experienced.  Within  a  few  months,  and 
before  the  close  of  the  winter,  David  Elkin,  an 
itinerant  preacher  whom  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  known 
in  Kentucky,  happened  into  the  settlement,  and  in 
response  to  the  invitation  from  the  family  and 
friends,  delivered  a  funeral  sermon  over  her  grave. 
No  one  is  able  now  to  'remember  the  language  of 
Parson  Elkin's  discourse,  but  it  is  recalled  that  he 
commemorated  the  virtues  and  good  phases  of 
character,  and  passed  in  silence  the  few  short- 
comings and  frailties  of  the  poor  woman  sleeping 
under  the  winter^s  snow.  She  had  done  her  work 
in  this  world.  Stoop-shouldered,  thin-breasted,  sad, 
— at  times  miserable, — groping  through  the  per- 
plexities of  life,  without  prospect  of  any  betterment 
in  her  condition,  she  passed  from  earth,  little 
dreaming  of  the  grand  future  that  lay  in  store  for 
the  ragged,  hapless  little  boy  who  stood  at  her  bed- 
side in  the  last  days  of  her  life. 

Thomas  Lincoln's  widowerhood  was  brief.     He 


26  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

had  scarcely  mourned  the  death  of  his  first  wife  a 
year  until  he  reappeared  in  Kentucky  at  Elizabeth- 
town  in  search  of  another.  His  admiration  had 
centred  for  a  second  time  on  Sally  Bush,  the 
widow  of  Daniel  Johnston,  the  jailer  of  Hardin 
county,  who  had  died  several  years  before  of  a 
disease  known  as  the  ''  cold  plague/*  The  tradition 
still  kept  alive  in  the  Kentucky  neighborhood  is 
that  Lincoln  had  been  a  suitor  for  the  hand  of  the 
lady  before  his  marriage  to  Nancy  Hanks,  but  that 
she  had  rejected  him  for  the  hand  of  the  more  fortu- 
nate Johnston.  However  that  may  have  been,  it  is 
certain  that  he  began  his  campaign  in  earnest  this 
time,  and  after  a  brief  siege  won  her  heart.  **  He 
made  a  very  short  courtship,*'  wrote  Samuel  Hay- 
craft^  to  me  in  a  letter,  December  7,  1866.  '*  He 
came  to  see  her  on  the  first  day  of  December,  18 19, 
and  in  a  straightforward  manner  told  her  that  they 
had  known  each  other  from  childhood.  ^  Miss  John- 
ston,* said  he,  '  I  have  no  wife  and  you  no  husband. 
I  came  a-purpose  to  marry  you.  I  knowed  you 
from  a  gal  and  you  knowed  me  from  a  boy.  I've 
no  time  to  lose  ;  and  if  youVe  willin*  let  it  be  done 
straight  off.'  She  replied  that  she  could  not  marry 
him  right  off,  as  she  had  some  little  debts  which  she 
wanted  to  pay  first.  He  replied,  ^Give  me  a  list  of 
them.'  He  got  the  list  and  paid  them  that  even- 
ing. Next  morning  I  issued  the  license,  and  they 
Were  married  within  sixty  yards  of  my  house." 
Lincoln's    brother-in-law,  Ralph    Krume,  and  his 

*  Clerk  of  the  Court.     MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  2/ 

four  horses  and  spacious  wagon  were  again  brought 
into  requisition.  With  commendable  generosity 
he  transported  the  newly  married  pair  and  their 
household  effects  to  their  home  in  Indiana.  The 
new  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  accompanied  by  her  three 
children,  John,  Sarah,  and  Matilda.  Her  social 
status  is  fixed  by  the  comparison  of  a  neighbor,  who 
observed  that  'Mife  among  the  Hankses,  the  Lin- 
colns,  and  the  Enlows  was  a  long  ways  below  life 
among  the  Bushes." 

In  the  eyes  of  her  spouse  she  could  not  be  re- 
garded as  a  poor  widow.  She  was  the  owner  of  a 
goodly  stock  of  furniture  and  household  goods  ; 
bringing  with  her  among  other  things  a  walnut 
bureau  valued  at  fifty  dollars.  What  effect  the  new 
family,  their  collection  of  furniture,  cooking  uten- 
sils, and  comfortable  bedding  must  have  had  on  the 
astonished  and  motherless  pair  who  from  the  door 
of  Thomas  Lincoln's  forlorn  cabin  watched  the  well- 
filled  wagon  as  it  came  creaking  through  the  woods 
can  better  be  imagined  than  described.  Surely 
Sarah  and  Abe,  as  the  stores  of  supplies  were  rolled 
in  through  the  doorless  doorways,  must  have  be- 
lieved that  a  golden  future  awaited  them.  The 
presence  and  smile  of  a  motherly  face  in  the  cheer- 
less cabin  radiated  sunshine  into  every  neglected 
corner.  If  the  Lincoln  mansion  did  not  in  every 
respect  correspond  to  the  representations  made  by 
its  owner  to  the  new  Mrs.  Lincoln  before  marriage, 
the  latter  gave  no  expression  of  disappointment  or 
even  surprise.  With  true  womanly  courage  and 
zeal  she  set    resolutely  to  work  to  make  right  that 


28  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

which  seemed  wrong.  Her  husband  was  made  to 
put  a  floor  in  the  cabin,  as  well  as  to  supply  doors 
and  windows.  The  cracks  between  the  logs  were 
plastered  up.  A  clothes-press  filled  the  space 
between  the  chimney  jamb  and  the  wall,  and  the 
mat  of  corn  husks  and  leaves  on  which  the  children 
had  slept  in  the  corner  gave  way  to  the  comfortable 
luxuriance  of  a  feather  bed.  She  washed  the  two 
orphans,  and  fitted  them  out  in  clothes  taken  from 
the  stores  of  her  own.  The  work  of  renovation  in 
and  around  the  cabin  continued  until  even  Thomas 
Lincoln  himself,  under  the  general  stimulus  of  the 
new  wife's  presence,  caught  the  inspiration,  and 
developed  signs  of  intense  activity.  The  advent  of 
Sarah  Bush  was  certainly  a  red-letter  day  for  the 
Lincolns.  She  was  not  only  industrious  and  thrifty, 
but  gentle  and  affectionate  ;  and  her  newly  adopted 
children  for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  realized  the  be- 
nign influence  of  a  mother's  love.  Of  young  Abe 
she  was  especially  fond,  and  we  have  her  testimony 
that  her  kindness  and  care  for  him  were  warmly  and 
bountifully  returned.  Her  granddaughter  furnished 
me  *  in  after  years  with  this  description  of  her : 

"'  My  grandmother  is  a  very  tall  woman,  straight 
as  an  Indian,  of  fair  complexion,  and  was,  when  I 
first  remember  her,  very  handsome,  sprightly,  talk- 
ative, and  proud.  She  wore  her  hair  curled  till  gray  ; 
is  kind-hearted  and  very  charitable,  and  also  very 
industrious."     In  September,   1865,  I  visited  the  old 

*  Harriet  Chapman.     MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


29 


lady  *  and  spent  an  entire  day  with  her.  She  was 
then  living  on  the  farm  her  stepson  had  purchased 
and  given  her,  eight  miles  south  of  the  town  of 
Charleston,  in  Illinois.  She  died  on  the  loth  of 
April,  1869. 

The  two  sets  of  children  in  the  Lincoln  house- 
hold—to their  credit  be  it  said — hved  together  in 
perfect  accord.  Abe  was  in  his  tenth  year,  and  his 
stepmother,  awake  to  the  importance  of  an  educa- 
tion, made  a  way  for  him  to  attend  school.  To  her 
he  seemed  full  of  promise;  and  although  not  so 
quick  of  comprehension  as  other  boys,  yet  she 
believed  in  encouraging  his  every  effort.  He  had 
had  a  few  weeks  of  schooling  under  Riney  and 
Hazel  in  Kentucky,  but  it  is  hardly  probable  that 
he  could  read  ;  he  certainly  could  not  write.  As 
illustrating  his  moral  make-up,  I  diverge  from  the 
chronological  order  of  the  narrative  long  enough  to 
relate  an  incident  which  occurred  some  years  later. 
In  the  Lincoln  family,  Matilda  Johnston,  or  Tilda, 


*  During  my  interview  with  this  old  lady  I  was  much  and  deeply 
impressed  with  the  sincerity  of  her  affection  for  her  illustrious  step- 
son. She  declined  to  say  much  in  answer  to  my  questions  about 
Nancy  Hanks,  her  predecessor  in  the  Lincoln  household,  but  spoke 
feelingly  of  the  latter's  daughter  and  son.  Describing  Mr.  Lincoln's 
last  visit  to  her  in  February,  1861,  she  broke  into  tears  and  wept 
bitterly.  "  I  did  not  want  Abe  to  run  for  President,"  she  sobbed, 
"  and  did  not  want  to  see  him  elected.  I  was  afraid  that  something 
would  happen  to  him,  and  when  he  came  down  to  see  me,  after  he 
was  elected  President,  I  still  felt,  and  my  heart  told  me,  that  some- 
thing would  befall  him,  and  that  I  should  never  see  him  again.  Abe 
and  his  father  are  in  heaven  now,  I  am  sure,  and  I  expect  soon  to  go 
there  and  meet  them." 


30  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

as  her  mother  called  her,  was  the  youngest  child. 
After  Abe  had  reached  the  estate  of  manhood,  she 
was  still  in  her  *teens.  It  was  Abe's  habit  each 
morning  one  fall,  to  leave  the  house  early,  his  axe 
on  his  shoulder,  to  clear  a  piece  of  forest  which  lay 
some  distance  from  home.  He  frequently  carried 
his  dinner  with  him,  and  remained  all  day.  Several 
times  the  young  and  frolicsome  Tilda  sought  to 
accompany  him,  but  was  each  time  restrained  by 
her  mother,  who  firmly  forbade  a  repetition  of  the 
attempt.  One  morning  the  girl  escaped  maternal 
vigilance,  and  slyly  followed  after  the  young  wood- 
man, who  had  gone  some  distance  from  the  house, 
and  was  already  hidden  from  view  behind  the  dense 
growth  of  trees  and  underbrush.  Following  a  deer- 
path,  he  went  singing  along,  little  dreaming  of  the 
girl  in  close  pursuit.  The  latter  gained  on  him, 
and  when  within  a  few  feet,  darted  forward  and 
with  a  cat-like  leap  landed  squarely  on  his  back. 
With  one  hand  on  each  shoulder,  she  planted  her 
knee  in  the  middle  of  his  back,  and  dexterously 
brought  the  powerful  frame  of  the  rail-splitter  to 
the  ground.  It  was  a  trick  familiar  to  every 
schoolboy.  Abe,  taken  by  surprise,  was  unable  at 
first  to  turn  around  or  learn  who  his  assailant  was. 
In  the  fall  to  the  ground,  the  sharp  edge  of  the  axe 
imbedded  itself  in  the  young  lady's  ankle,  inflicting 
a  wound  from  which  there  came  a  generous  effu- 
sion of  blood.  With  sundry  pieces  of  cloth 
torn  from  Abe's  shirt  and  the  young  lady's 
dress,  the  flow  of  blood  was  stanched,  and  the 
wound   rudely  bound   up.     The   girl's  cries  having 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  3 1 

lessened  somewhat,  her  tall  companion,  looking  at 
her  in  blank  astonishment,  knowing  what  an  in- 
fraction the  whole  thing  was  of  her  mother*s  oft- 
repeated  instructions,  asked  ;  ** '  Tilda,  what  are 
you  going  to  tell  mother  about  getting  hurt  ?'* 

**  Tell  her  I  did  it  with  the  axe,*'  she  sobbed. 
''  That  will  be  the  truth,  won't  it  ?  '*  To  which  last 
inquiry  Abe  manfully  responded, 

^' Yes,  that's  the  truth,  but  it's  not  all  the  truth. 
Tell  the  whole  truth,  'Tilda,  and  trust  your  good 
mother  for  the  rest." 

This  incident  was,  many  years  afterward,  related 
to  me  by  'Tilda,  who  was  then  the  mother  of  a 
devoted  and  interesting  family  herself. 

Hazel  Dorsey  was  Abe's  first  teacher  in  Indiana. 
He  held  forth  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  Lincoln 
farm.  The  school-house  was  built  of  round  logs, 
and  was  just  high  enough  for  a  man  to  stand  erect 
under  the  loft.  The  floor  was  of  split  logs,  or 
what  were  called  puncheons.  The  chimney  was 
made  of  poles  and  clay  ;  and  the  windows  were 
made  by  cutting  out  parts  of  two  logs,  placing 
pieces  of  split  boards  a  proper  distance  apart,  and 
over  the  aperture  thus  formed  pasting  pieces 
of  greased  paper  to  admit  light.  At  school  Abe 
evinced  ability  enough  to  gain  him  a  prominent 
place  in  the  respect  of  the  teacher  and  the  affec- 
tions of  his  fellow-scholars.*^     Elements  of  leader- 


*  "  He  always  appeared  to  be  very  quiet  during  playtime ;  never 
was  rude ;  seemed  to  have  a  liking  for  solitude ;  was  the  one  chosen 
in  almost  every  case  to  adjust  difficulties  between  boys  of  his  age 


32  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

ship  in  him  seem  to  have  manifested  themselves 
already.  Nathaniel  Grigsby — whose  brother,  Aaron, 
afterwards  married  Abe's  sister,  Sarah — attended 
the  same  school.  He  certifies  to  Abe's  proficiency 
and  worth  in  glowing  terms. 

**  He  was  always  at  school  early,*'  writes  Grigsby, 
**  and  attended  to  his  studies.  He  was  always  at 
the  head  of  his  class,  and  passed  us  rapidly  in  his 
studies.  He  lost  no  time  at  home,  and  when  he 
was  not  at  work  was  at  his  books.  He  kept  up  his 
studies  on  Sunday,  ^and  carried  his  books  with  him 
to  work,  so  that  he  might  read  when  he  rested  from 
labor/'  Now  and  then,  the  family  exchequer  run- 
ning low,  it  would  be  found  necessary  for  the 
young  rail-splitter  to  stop  school,  and  either  work 
with  his  father  on  the  farm,  or  render  like  service 
for  the  neighbors.  These  periods  of  work  occurred 
so  often  and  continued  so  long,  that  all  his  school 
days  added  together  would  not  make  a  year  in  the 
aggregate.  When  he  attended  school,  his  sister 
Sarah  usually  accompanied  him.  **  Sally  was  a 
quick-minded  young  woman,"  is  the  testimony  of  a 
school-mate.  **  She  was  more  industrious  than  Abe, 
in  my  opinion.  I  can  hear  her  good-humored 
laugh  now.  Like  her  brother,  she  could  greet  you 
kindly  and  put  you  at  ease.  She  was  really  an 
intelligent  woman.*'  * 

and  size,  and  when  appealed  to,  his  decision  was  an  end  of  the 
trouble.  He  was  also  rather  noted  for  keeping  his  clothes  clean 
longer  than  any  of  the  others,  and  although  considered  a  boy  of  cour- 
age, had  few,  if  any,  difficulties." — E.  R.  Burba,  letter,  March  31, 18661 
*Nat  Grigsby,  Sept.  12,  1865,  MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  33 

Abe's  love  for  books,  and  his  determined  effort  to 
obtain  an  education  in  spite  of  so  many  obstacles, 
induced  the  belief  in  his  father's  mind,  that  book- 
learning  was  absorbing  a  greater  proportion  of  his 
energy  and  industry  than  the  demands  of  the  farm. 
The  old  gentleman  had  but  little  faith  in  the  value 
of  books  or  papers,*  and  hence  the  frequent  drafts 
he  made  on  the  son  to  aid  in  the  drudgery  of  daily 
toil.  He  undertook  to  teach  him  his  own  trade  f — 
he  was  a  carpenter  and  joiner — but  Abe  manifested 
such  a  striking  want  of  interest  that  the  effort  to 
make  a  carpenter  of  him  was  soon  abandoned. 

At  Dorsey's  school  Abe  was  ten  years  old ;  at 
the  next  one,  Andrew  Crawford's,  he  was  about 
fourteen ;  and  at  Swaney's  he  was  in  his  seven- 
teenth year.  The  last  school  required  a  walk  of 
over  four  miles,  and  on  account  of  the  distance 
his  attendance  was  not  only  irregular  but  brief. 
Schoolmaster  Crawford  introduced  a  new  feature 
in  his  school,  and  we  can  imagine  its  effect  on 
his  pupils,  whose  training  had  been  limited  to  the 


*  *'  I  induced  my  husband  to  permit  Abe  to  read  and  study  at 
home  as  well  as  at  school.  At  first  he  was  not  easily  reconciled  to 
it,  but  finally  he  too  seemed  willing  to  encourage  him  to  a  certain 
extent.  Abe  was  a  dutiful  son  to  me  always,  and  we  took  particular 
care  when  he  was  reading  not  to  disturb  him — would  let  him  read  on 
and  on  till  he  quit  of  his  own  accord.'  * — Mrs.  Thomas  Lincoln,  Septo 
8,  1865. 

t  A  little  walnut  cabinet,  two  feet  high,  and  containing  two  rows  of 
neat  drawers,  now  in  the  possession  of  Captain  J.  W.  Wartmann, 
clerk  of  the  United  States  Court  in  Evansville,  Ind.,  is  carefully  pre- 
served as  a  specimen  of  the  joint  work  of  Lincoln  and  his  father  at 
this  time. 


34  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

social  requirements  of  the  backwoods  settlement. 
It  was  instruction  in  manners.  One  scholar  was 
required  to  go  outside,  and  re-enter  the  room  as  a 
lady  or  gentleman  would  enter  a  drawing-room  or 
parlor.  Another  scholar  would  receive  the  first 
party  at  the  door,  and  escort  him  or  her  about  the 
room,  making  polite  introductions  to  each  person  in 
the  room.  How  the  gaunt  and  clumsy  Abe  went 
through  this  performance  we  shall  probably  never 
know.  If  his  awkward  movements  gave  rise  to  any 
amusement,  his  school-mates  never  revealed  it. 

The  books  used  at  school  were  Webster's  Spell- 
ing Book  and  the  American  Speller.  All  the 
scholars  learned  to  cipher,  and  afterwards  used 
Pike's  Arithmetic.  Mr.  Lincoln  told  me  in  later 
years  that  Murray's  English  Reader  was  the  best 
school-book  ever  put  into  the  hands  of  an  Amer- 
ican youth.  I  conclude,  therefore,  he  must  have 
used  that  also.  At  Crawford's  school  Abe  was 
credited  with  the  authorship  of  several  literary 
efforts — short  dissertations  in  which  he  strove  to 
correct  some  time-honored  and  wanton  sport  of  the 
schoolboy.  While  in  Indiana  I  met  several  persons 
who  recalled  a  commendable  and  sornewhat  preten- 
tious protest  he  wrote  against  cruelty  to  animals. 
The  wholesome  effects  of  a  temperate  life  and  the 
horrors  of  war  were  also  subjects  which  claimed  the 
services  of  his  pen  then,  as  they  in  later  years 
demanded  the  devoted  attention  of  his  mind  and 
heart. 

He  was  now  over  six  feet  high  and  was  growing 
at  a  tremendous  rate,  for  he  added  two  inches  more 


Tl£R  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  35 

before  the  close  of  his  seventeenth  year,  thus  reach- 
ing the  limit  of  his  stature.  He  weighed  in  the 
region  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  ;  was  wiry, 
vigorous,  and  strong.  His  feet  and  hands  were 
large,  arms  and  legs  long  and  in  striking  contrast 
with  his  slender  trunk  and  small  head.  *'  His  skin 
was  shrivelled  and  yellow,''  declares  one  of  the 
girls*  who  attended  Crawford's  school.  *^  His 
shoes,  when  he  had  any,  were  low.  He  wore  buck- 
skin breeches,  linsey-woolsey  shirt,  and  a  cap  made 
of  the  skin  of  a  squirrel  or  coon.  His  breeches 
were  baggy  and  lacked  by  several  inches  meeting 
the  tops  of  his  shoes,  thereby  exposing  his  shin- 
bone,  sharp,  blue,  and  narrow."  In  one  branch  of 
school  learning  he  was  a  great  success  ;  that  was 
spelling^  We  are  indebted  to  Kate  Roby,  a  pretty 
miss  of  fifteen,  for  an  incident  which  illustrates 
alike  his  proficiency  in  orthography  and  his  natural 
inclination  to  help  another  out  of  the  mire.  The 
word  '*  defied  "  had  been  given  out  by  Schoolmaster 
Crawford,  but  had  been  misspelled  several  times 
when  it  came  Miss  Roby's  turn.  *'Abe  stood  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  room"  (related  Miss  Roby  f 
to  me  in  1865)'*  and  was  watching  me.  I  began 
d-e-f — and  then  I  stopped,  hesitating  whether  to 
proceed  with  an  *i '  or  a  *  y.*  Looking  up  I  beheld 
Abe,  a  grin  covering  his  face,  and  pointing  with  his 
index  finger  to  his  eye.  I  took  the  hint,  spelled 
the  word  with  an  '  i,'  and  it  went  through  all  right." 


*Kate  Gentry. 

■♦■  Miss  Roby  afterward  married  Allen  Gentry. 


36  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN'. 

There  was  more  or  less  of  an  attachment  between 
Miss  Roby  and  Abe,  although  the  lady  took  pains 
to  assure  me  that  they  were  never  in  love.  She 
described  with  self-evident  pleasure,  however,  the 
delightful  experience  of  an  evening^s  stroll  down  to 
the  river  with  him,  where  they  were  wont  to  sit  on 
the  bank  and  watch  the  moon  as  it  slowly  rose  over 
the  neighboring  hills.  Dangling  their  youthful  feet 
in  the  water,  they  gazed  on  the  pale  orb  of  night,  as 
many  a  fond  pair  before  them  had  done  and  w^ill 
continue  to  do  until  the  end  of  the  world.  One 
evening,  when  thus  engaged,  their  conversation  and 
thoughts  turned  on  the  movement  of  the  planets. 
"  I  did  not  suppose  that  Abe,  who  had  seen  so  little 
of  the  world,  would  know  anything  about  it,  but  he 
proved  to  my  satisfaction  that  the  moon  did  not  go 
down  at  all ;  that  it  only  seemed  to;  that  the  earth, 
revolving  from  west  to  east,  carried  us  under,  as  it 
were.  *  We  do  the  sinking,' he  explained;  *  while 
to  us  the  moon  is  comparatively  still.  The  moon's 
sinking  is  only  an  illusion.'  I  at  once  dubbed  him 
a  fool,  but  later  developments  convinced  me  that  I 
was  the  fool,  not  he.  He  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  general  laws  of  astronomy  and  the  movements 
of  the  heavenly  bodies,  but  where  he  could  have 
learned  so  much,  or  how  to  put  it  so  plainly,  I  never 
could  understand." 

Absalom  Roby  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  even  at  that  early  day  Abe  was  a  patient 
reader  of  a  Louisville  newspaper,  which  some  one 
at  Gentryville  kindly  furnished  him.  Among  the 
books  he  read  were  the  Bible,  *'  ^Esop's  Fables," 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  37 

•*  Robinson  Crusoe,"  Bunyan's  ''  Pilgrim's  Progress/* 
a  *' History  of  the  United  States/'  and  Weems' 
*'  Life  of  Washington."  A  little  circumstance  at- 
tended the  reading  of  the  last-named  book,  which 
only  within  recent  years  found  its  way  into  public 
print.  The  book  was  borrowed  from  a  close-fisted 
neighbor,  Josiah  Crawford,  and  one  night,  while 
lying  on  a  little  shelf  near  a  crack  between  two  logs 
in  the  Lincoln  cabin  during  a  storm,  the  covers 
were  damaged  by  rain.  Crawford — not  the  school- 
master, but  old  ''  Blue  Nose,"  as  Abe  and  others 
called  him — assessed  the  damage  to  his  book  at  sev- 
enty-five cents,  and  the  unfortunate  borrower  was 
required  to  pull  fodder  for  three  days  at  twenty-five 
cents  a  day  in  settlement  of  the  account.  While  at 
school  it  is  doubtful  if  he  was  able  to  own  an  arith* 
metic.  His  stepmother  was  unable  to  remember 
his  ever  having  owned  one.  She  gave  me,  how- 
ever, a  few  leaves  from  a  book  made  and  bound  by 
Abe,  in  which  he  had  entered,  in  a  large,  bold  hand, 
the  tables  of  weights  and  measures,  and  the  *'  sums  " 
to  be  worked  out  in  illustration  of  each  table. 
Where  the  arithmetic  was  obtained  I  could  not 
learn.  On  one  of  the  pages  which  the  old  lady 
gave  me,  and  just  underneath  the  table  which  tells, 
how  many  pints  there  are  in  a  bushel,  the  facetious 
young  student  had  scrawled  these  four  lines  of 
ischoolboy  doggerel : 

"  Abraham  Lincoln, 
His  hand  and  pen, 
He  will  be  good, 
But  God  knows  when.'* 


i^  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

On  another  page  were  found,  in  his  own  hand,  a  few 
lines  which  it  is  also  said  he  composed.  Nothing 
indicates  that  they  were  borrowed,  and  I  have 
always,  therefore,  believed  that  they  were  original 
with  him.  Although  a  little  irregular  in  metre,  the 
sentiment  would,  I  think,  do  credit  to  an  older 
head. 

**  Time,  what  an  empty  vapor  'tis, 

And  days  how  swift  they  are  : 
Swift  as  an  Indian  arrow — 

Fly  on  like  a  shooting  star. 
The  present  moment  just  is  here, 

Then  slides  away  in  haste, 
That  we  can  never  say  they're  ours, 

But  only  say  they're  past." 

His  penmanship,  after  some  practice,  became  so  re* 
gular  in  form  that  it  excited  the  admiration  of  othef 
and  younger  boys.  One  of  the  latter,  Joseph  C. 
Richardson,  said  that  **  Abe  Lincoln  was  the  best 
penman  in  the  neighborhood/*  At  Richardson's 
request  he  made  some  copies  for  practice.  During 
my  visit  to  Indiana  I  met  Richardson,  who  showed 
these  two  lines,  which  Abe  had  prepared  for  him : 

"  Good  boys  who  to  their  books  apply 
Will  all  be  great  men  by  and  by." 

To  comprehend  Mr.  Lincoln  fully  we  must  know 
in  substance  not  only  the  facts  of  his  origin,  but 
also  the  manner  of  his  development.  It  will 
always  be  a  matter  of  wonder  to  the  American 
people,  I  have  no  doubt — as  it  has  been  to  me — 
that  from  such  restricted  and  unpromising  opportu* 


1HE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  39 

nities  in  early  life,  Mr.  Lincoln  Jk-ew  into  the  great 
man  he  was.  The  foundation  for  his  education  was 
laid  in  Indiana  and  in  the  little  town  of  New  Salem 
in  Illinois,  and  in  both  places  he  gave  evidence  of  a 
nature  and  characteristics  that  distinguished  him 
from  every  associate  and  surrounding  he  had.  He 
was  i^ot  peculiar  or  eccentric,  and  yet  a  shrewd 
observer  would  have  seen  that  he  was  decidedly 
unique  and  original.  Although  imbued  with  a 
marked  dislike  for  manual  labor,  it  cannot  be  truth- 
fully said  of  him  that  he  was  indolent.  From  a 
mental  standpoint  he  was  one  of  the  most  ener- 
getic young  men  of  his  day.  He  dwelt  altogether 
in  the  land  of  thought.  His  deep  meditation  and 
abstraction  easily  induced  the  belief  among  his 
horny-handed  companions  that  he  was  lazy.  In 
fact,  a  neighbor,  John  Romine,  makes  that  charge. 
**  He  worked  for  me,"  testifies  the  latter,  *^  but  was 
always  reading  and  thinking.  I  used  to  get  mad  at 
him  for  it.  I  say  he  was  awfully  lazy.  He  would 
laugh  and  talk — crack  his  jokes  and  tell  stories  all 
the  time ;  didn't  love  work  half  as  much  as  his  pay. 
He  said  to  me  one  day  that  his  father  taught  him 
to  work,  but  he  never  taught  him  to  love  it.'*  Ver" 
ily  there  was  but  one  Abraham  Lincoln ! 

His  chief  delight  during  the  day,  if  unmolested, 
was  to  lie  down  under  the  shade  of  some  inviting 
tree  to  read  and  study.  At  night,  lying  on  his 
stomach  in  front  of  the  open  fireplace,  with  a  piece 
of  charcoal  he  would  cipher  on  a  broad  wooden 
shovel.  When  the  latter  was  covered  over  on  both 
sides  he  would   take   his  father's  drawing   knife  or 


40  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

plane  and  shave  it  off  clean,  ready  for  a  fresh  supply 
of  inscriptions  the  next  day.  He  often  moved  about 
the  cabin  with  a  piece  of  chalk,  writing  and  cipher- 
ing on  boards  and  the  flat  sides  of  hewn  logs.  When 
every  bare  wooden  surface  had  been  filled  with  his 
letters  and  ciphers  he  would  erase  them  and  begin 
anew.  Thus  it  was  always;  and  the  boy  whom 
dull  old  Thomas  Lincoln  and  rustic  John  Romine 
conceived  to  be  lazy  was  in  reality  the  most  tireless 
worker  in  all  the  region  around  Gentryville.  His  step- 
mother told  me  he  devoured  everything  in  the  book 
line  within  his  reach.  If  in  his  reading  he  came 
across  anything  that  pleased  his  fancy,  he  entered 
it  down  in  a  copy-book — a  sort  of  repository,  in  which 
he  was  wont  to  store  everything  worthy  of  preserva- 
tion. "  Frequently,*'  related  his  stepmother,  *'  he 
had  no  paper  to  write  his  pieces  down  on.  Then  he 
would  put  them  with  chalk  on  a  board  or  plank, 
sometimes  only  making  a  few  signs  of  what  he 
intended  to  write.  When  he  got  paper  he  would 
copy  them,  always  bringing  them  to  me  and  reading 
them.  He  would  ask  my  opinion  of  what  he  had 
read,  and  often  explained  things  to  me  in  his  plain 
and  simple  language.'*  How  he  contrived  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  to  absorb  information  is  thus  told 
by  John  Hanks:  ^*  When  Abe  and  I  returned  to 
the  house  from  work  he  would  go  to  the  cupboard^ 
snatch  a  pie^e  of  corn  bread,  sit  down,  take  a  book, 
cock  his  legs  up  as  high  as  his  head,  and  read.  We 
grubbed,  plowed,  mowed,  and  worked  together  bare- 
footed in  the  field.  Whenever  Abe  had  a  chance 
in   the   field   while   at   work^    or   at  the  house,  he 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  4 1 

would  stop  and  read."  He  kept  the  Bible  and 
**yEsop's  Fables  "  always  within  reach,  and  read  them 
over  and  over  again.  These  two  volumes  furnished 
him  with  the  many  figures  of  speech  and  parables 
which  he  used  with  such  happy  effect  in  his  later 
and  public  utterances. 

Amid  such  restricted  and  unromantic  environ- 
ments the  boy  developed  into  the  man.  The  intel- 
lectual fire  burned  slowly,  but  with  a  steady  and 
intense  glow.  Although  denied  the  requisite  train- 
ing of  the  school-room,  he  was  none  the  less  com- 
petent to  cope  with  those  who  had  undergone  that 
discipline.  No  one  had  a  more  retentive  memory. 
If  he  read  or  heard  a  good  thing  it  never  escaped 
him.  His  powers  of  concentration  were  intense, 
and  in  the  ability  through  analysis  to  strip  bare  a 
proposition  he  was  unexcelled.  His  thoughtful  and 
investigating  mind  dug  down  after  ideas,  and  never 
stopped  till  bottom  facts  were  reached.  With  such 
a  mental  equipment  the  day  was  destined  to  come 
when  the  world  would  need  the  services  of  his  intel- 
lect and  heart.  That  he  was  equal  to  the  great 
task  when  the  demand  came  is  but  another  striking 
proof  of  the  grandeur  of  his  character. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  first  law  book  Lincoln  ever  read  was  **  The 
Statutes  of  Indiana/*  He  obtained  the  volume  from 
his  friend  David  Turnham,  who  testifies  that  he 
fairly  devoured  the  book  in  his  eager  efforts  to 
abstract  the  store  of  knowledge  that  lay  between  the 
lids.  No  doubt,  as  Turnham  insists,  the  study  of 
the  statutes  at  this  early  day  led  Abe  to  think  of 
the  law  as  his  calling  in  maturer  years.  At  any  rate 
he  now  began  to  evince  no  little  zeal  in  the  matter 
of  public  speaking — in  compliance  with  the  old 
notion,  no  doubt,  that  a  lawyer  can  never  succeed 
unless  he  has  the  elements  of  the  orator  or  advocate 
in  his  construction — and  even  when  at  work  in  the 
field  he  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  mount 
the  nearest  stump  and  practise  on  his  fellow  labor- 
ers. The  latter  would  flock  around  him,  and  active 
operations  would  cease  whenever  he  began.  A 
cluster  of  tall  and  stately  trees  often  made  him  a 
most  dignified  and  appeciative  audience  during  the 
delivery  of  these  maiden  forensic  efforts.  He  was 
old  enough  to  attend  musters,  log-rollings,  and  horse- 
races, and  was  rapidly  becoming  a  favored  as  well  as 
favorite  character.  '*  The  first  time  I  ever  remem- 
ber of  seeing  Abe  Lincoln,"  is  the  testimony  of  one 

42 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  43 

of  his  neighbors,*  ''  was  when  I  was  a  small  boy  and 
had  gone  with  my  father  to  attend  some  kind  of  an 
election.  One  of  our  neighbors,  James  Larkins,  was 
there.  Larkins  was  a  great  hand  to  brag  on  any- 
thing he  owned.  This  time  it  was  his  horse.  He 
stepped  up  before  Abe,  who  was  in  the  crowd,  and 
commenced  talking  to  him,  boasting  all  the  while 
of  his  animal. 

**  *  I  have  got  the  best  horse  in  the  country  '  '*  he 
shouted  to  his  young  listener.  **  *  I  ran  him  three 
miles  in  exactly  nine  minutes,  and  he  never  fetched 
a  long  breath/  " 

'*  *  I  presume,'  said  Abe,  rather  dryly,  *he  fetched 
a  good  many  short  ones  though.' " 

With  all  his  peaceful  propensities  Abe  was  not 
averse  to  a  contest  of  strength,  either  for  sport  or  in 
settlement — as  in  one  memorable  case — of  griev-. 
ances.  Personal  encounters  were  of  frequent  occur- 
rence in  Gentryville  in  those  days,  and  the  prestige 
of  having  thrashed  an  opponent  gave  the  victor 
marked  social  distinction.  Green  B.  Taylor,  with 
whom  Abe  worked  the  greater  part  of  one  winter 
on  a  farm,  furnished  me  with  an  account  of  the 
noted  fight  between  John  Johnston,  Abe's  step- 
brother, and  William  Grigsby,  in  which  stirring 
drama  Abe  himself  played  an  important  role  before 
the  curtain  was  rung  down.  Taylor's  father  was  the 
second  for  Johnston,  and  William  Whitten  officiated 
in  a  similar  capacity  for  Grigsby.  '*  They  had  a  ter- 
rible fight,''  relates  Taylor,    ''and   it  soon  became 

■  t 

*  John  W.  Lamar,  MS.  letter,  June  29,  1866. 


44  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

apparent  that  Grigsby  was  too  much  for  Lincoln's 
man,  Johnston.  After  they  had  fought  a  long  time 
without  interference,  it  having  been  agreed  not  to 
break  the  ring,  Abe  burst  through,  caught  Grigsby, 
threw  him  off  and  some  feet  away.  There  he  stood, 
proud  as  Lucifer,  and  swinging  a  bottle  of  liquor 
over  his  head  swore  he  was  *  the  big  buck  of  the 
lick/  ^  If  any  one  doubts  it,'  he  shouted,  '  he  has 
only  to  come  on  and  whet  his  horns/  "  A  general 
engagement  followed  this  challenge,  but  at  the  end 
of  hostilities  the  field  was  cleared  and  the  wounded 
retired  amid  the  exultant  shouts  of  their  victors. 

Much  of  the  latter  end  of  Abe's  boyhood  would 
have  been  lost  in  the  midst  of  tradition  but  for  the 
store  of  information  and  recollections  I  was  fortu- 
nate enough  to  secure  from  an  interesting  old  lady 
whom  I  met  in  Indiana  in  1865.  She  was  the  wife  of 
Josiah  Crawford  "^ — ''  Blue  Nose,"  as  Abe  had  named 
him — and  possessed  rare  accomplishments  for  a 
woman  reared  in  the  backwoods  of  Indiana.  She 
was  not  only  impressed  with  Abe's  early  efforts,  but 
expressed  great  admiration  for  his  sister  Sarah, 
whom  she  often  had  with  her  at  her  own  hospitable 
home  and  whom  she  described  as  a  modest,  indus- 

*  In  one  of  her  conversations  with  me  Mrs.  Crawford  told  me  of 
the  exhibitions  with  which  at  school  they  often  entertained  the  few 
persons  who  attended  the  closing  day.  Sometimes,  in  warm 
weather,  the  scholars  made  a  platform  of  clean  boards  covered  over- 
head with  green  boughs.  Generally,  however,  these  exhibitions  took 
place  in  the  school-room.  The  exercises  consisted  of  the  varieties 
offered  at  this  day  at  the  average  seminary  or  school — declamations 
and  dialogues  or  debates.  The  declamations  were  obtained  princi- 
pally from  a  book  called  ^'The  Kentucky  Preceptor,"  which  volume 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  45 

trious,  and  sensible  sister  of  a  humorous  and  equally 
sensible  brother.  From  Mrs.  Crawford  I  obtained 
the  few  specimens  of  Abe*s  early  literary  efforts 
and  much  of  the  matter  that  follows  in  this  chapter. 
The  introduction  here  of  the  literary  feature  as 
affording  us  a  glimpse  of  Lincoln's  boyhood  days 
may  to  a  certain  extent  grate  harshly  on  over-re' 
fined  ears  ;  but  still  no  apology  is  necessary,  for,  as 
intimated  at  the  outset,  I  intend  to  keep  close  to 
Lincoln  all  the  way  through.  Some  writers  would 
probably  omit  these  songs  and  backwoods  recitals 
as  savoring  too  strongly  of  the  Bacchanalian  nature, 
but  that  would  be  a  narrow  view  to  take  of  history. 
If  wx  expect  to  know  Lincoln  thoroughly  we  must 
be  prepared  to  take  him  as  he  really  was. 

In  1826  Abe's  sister  Sarah  was  married  to  Aaron 
Grigsby,  and  at  the  wedding  the  Lincoln  family 
sang  a  song  composed  in  honor  of  the  event  by 
Abe  himself.  It  is  a  tiresome  doggerel  and  full 
of  painful  rhymes.  I  reproduce  it  here  from  the 
manuscript  furnished  me  by  Mrs.  Crawford.  The 
author  and  composer  called  it  '*  Adam  and  Eve's 
Wedding  Song." 


Mrs.  Crawford  gave  me  as  a  souvenir  of  my  visit.  Lincoln  had  often 
iised  it  himself,  she  said.  The  questions  for  discussion  were  char- 
acteristic of  the  day  and  age.  The  relative  merits  of  the  "  Bee  and 
the  Ant,"  the  difference  in  strength  between  ''Wind  and  Water,'* 
taxed  their  knowledge  of  physical  phenomena ;  and  the  all-important 
question  "  Which  has  the  most  right  to  complain,  the  Indian  or  the 
Negro  ?  "  called  out  their  conceptions  of  a  great  moral  or  national 
wrong.  In  the  discussion  of  all  these  grave  subjects  Lincoln  took  a 
deep  interest. 


46  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

**  When  Adam  was  created 
He  dwelt  in  Eden's  shade, 
As  Moses  has  recorded, 
And  soon  a  bride  was  made. 

Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 

Of  creatures  swarmed  around 
Before  a  bride  was  formed, 

And  yet  no  mate  was  found. 

The  Lord  then  was  not  willing 

That  man  should  be  alone, 
But  caused  a  sleep  upon  him, 

And  from  him  took  a  bone. 

And  closed  the  flesh  instead  thereof. 

And  then  he  took  the  same 
And  of  it  made  a  woman. 

And  brought  her  to  the  man. 

Then  Adam  he  rejoiced 

To  see  his  loving  bride 
A  part  of  his  own  body. 

The  product  of  his  side. 

The  woman  was  not  taken 

From  Adam's  feet  we  see, 
So  he  must  not  abuse  her, 

The  meaning  seems  to  be. 

The  woman  was  not  taken 

From  Adam's  head,  we  know, 
To  show  she  must  not  rule  him — 

'Tis  evidently  so. 

The  woman  she  was  taken 

From  under  Adam's  arm. 
So  she  must  be  protected 

From  injuries  and  harm." 

Poor  Sarah,  at  whose  wedding  this  song  was  sung, 
never  Hved  to  see  the  glory  nor  share  in  the  honor 
that  afterwards  fell  to  the  lot  of  her  tall  and  angular 
brother.  Within  two  years  after  her  marriage  she 
died  in  childbirth. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLiY.  4/ 

Although  devoid  of  any  natural  ability  as  a  singer 
Abe  nevertheless  made  many  efforts  and  had  great 
appreciation  of  certain  songs.  In  after  years  he 
told  me  he  doubted  if  he  really  knew  what  the  har- 
mony of  sound  was.  The  songs  in  vogue  then  were 
principally  of  the  sacred  order.  They  were  from 
Watts'  and  Dupuy's  hymn-books.  David  Turnham 
furnished  me  with  a  list,  marking  as  especial  favor- 
ites the  following:  '*  Am  I  a  Soldier  of  the  Cross*'  ; 
*'  How  Tedious  and  Tasteless  the  Hours  "  ;  '*  There 
is  a  Fountain  Filled  with  Blood/'  and,  **  Alas,  and 
did  my  Saviour  Bleed?"  One  song  pleased  Abe 
not  a  little.  ''\  used  to  sing  it  for  old  Thomas 
Lincoln,"  relates  Turnham,  ''  at  Abe's  request.  The 
old  gentleman  liked  it  and  made  me  sing  it  often. 
I  can  only  remember  one  couplet : 

*^ '  There  was  a  Romish  lady 

She  was  brought  up  in  Popery.' " 

Dennis  Hanks  insists  that  Abe  used  to  try  his 
hand  and  voice  at  "  Poor  old  Ned,"  but  never  with 
any  degree  of  success.  *'  Rich,  racy  verses  "  were 
sung  by  the  big  boys  in  the  country  villages  of  that 
day  with  as  keen  a  relish  as  they  are  to-day.  There 
is  no  reason  and  less  evidence  for  the  belief  that 
Abe  did  not  partake  of  this  forbidden  fruit  along 
with  other  boys  of  the  same  age  and  condition  in 
life.  Among  what  Dennis  called  ''  field  songs"  are 
a  few  lines  from  this  one: 

"  The  turbaned  Turk  that  scorns  the  world 
And  struts  about  with  his  whiskers  curled, 
For  no  other  man  but  himself  to  see." 


48  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

Of  another  ballad  we  have  this  couplet : 

"  Hail  Columbia,  happy  land, 

If  you  aint  drunk  then  I'll  be  damned." 

We  can  imagine  the  merry  Dennis,  hilarious  with 
the  exhilaration  of  deep  potations  at  the  village 
grocery,  singing  this  ''  field  song  "  as  he  and  Abe 
wended  their  way  homeward.  A  stanza  from  a 
campaign  song  which  Abe  was  in  the  habit  of  ren- 
dering, according  to  Mrs.  Crawford,  attests  his  ear- 
liest political  predilections : 

**  Let  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot 
And  never  brought  to  mind, 
May  Jackson  be  our  president, 
And  Adams  left  behind.'* 

A  mournful  and  distressing  ballad,  ^^  John  Ander- 
son's Latnentation/'  as  rendered  by  Abe,  was  writ- 
ten out  for  me  by  Mrs.  Crawford,  but  the  first  lines, 

"  Oh,  sinners,  poor  sinners,  take  warning  by  me, 
The  fruits  of  transgression  behold  now  and  see," 

will  suffice  to  indicate  how  mournful  the  rest  of  it 
was. 

The  centre  of  wit  and  wisdom  in  the  village  of 
Gentryville  was  at  the  store.  This  place  was  in 
charge  of  one  Jones,  who  soon  after  embarking  in 
business  seemed  to  take  quite  a  fancy  to  Abe.  He 
took  the  only  newspaper — sent  from  Louisville — • 
and  at  his  place  of  business  gathered  Abe,  Dennis 
Hanks,  Baldwin  the  blacksmith,  and  other  kindred 
spirits  to  discuss  such  topics  as  are  the  exclusive 
property  of  the  store  lounger.     Abe's  original  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLIST,  49' 

ridiculous  stories  not  only  amused  the  crowd,  but 
the  display  of  his  unique  faculties  made  him  many 
friends.     One  who  saw  him  at  this  time  says : 

*'  Lincoln  would  frequently  make  political 
speeches  to  the  boys ;  he  was  always  calm,  logical, 
and  clear.  His  jokes  and  stories  were  so  odd,  orig 
inal,  and  witty  all  the  people  in  town  would  gather 
around  him.  He  would  keep  them  till  midnight. 
Abe  was  a  good  talker,  a  good  reasoner,  and  a  kind 
of  newsboy.'*  He  attended  all  the  trials  before  the 
"  squire,'*  as  that  important  functionary  was  called, 
and  frequently  wandered  off  to  Boonville,  a  town  on 
the  river,  distant  fifteen  miles,  and  the  county  seat 
of  Warrick  County,  to  hear  and  see  how  the  courts 
were  conducted  there.  On  one  occasion,  at  the 
latter  place,  he  remained  during  the  trial  of  a  mur- 
derer and  attentively  absorbed  the  proceedings.  A 
lawyer  named  Breckenridge  represented  the  defense, 
and  his  speech  so  pleased  and  thrilled  his  young 
listener  that  the  latter  could  not  refrain  from  ap- 
proaching the  eloquent  advocate  at  the  close  of  his 
address  and  congratulating  him  on  his  signal  suc- 
cess. How  Breckenridge  accepted  the  felicitations 
of  the  awkward,  hapless  youth  we  shall  probably 
never  know.  The  story  is  told  that  during  Lin- 
coln's term  as  President,  he  was  favored  one  day  at 
the  White  House  with  a  visit  by  this  same  Brecken- 
ridge, then  a  resident  of  Texas,  who  had  called  to 
pay  his  respects.  In  a  conversation  about  early 
days  in  Indiana,  the  President,  recalling  Brecken- 
ridge's  argument  in  the  murder  trial,  remarked,  "  If 
I  could,  as  I  then  thought,  have  made  as  good  a 


50  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

speech  as  that,  my  soul  would  have  been  satisfied  ; 
for  it  was  up  to  that  time  the  best  speech  I  had 
ever  heard. 

No  feature  of  his  backwoods  life  pleased  Abe  so 
well  as  going  to  mill.  It  released  him  from  a  day's 
work  in  the  woods,  besides  affording  him  a  much 
desired  opportunity  to  watch  the  movement  of  the 
mill's  primitive  and  cumbersome  machinery.  It 
was  on  many  of  these  trips  that  David  Turnham 
accompanied  him.  In  later  years  Mr.  Lincoln 
related  the  following  reminiscence  of  his  experience 
as  a  miller  in  Indiana ;  One  day,  taking  a  bag  of 
corn,  he  mounted  the  old  flea-bitten  gray  mare  and 
rode  leisurely  to  Gordon's  mill.  Arriving  somewhat 
late,  his  turn  did  not  come  till  almost  sundown.  In 
obedience  to  the  custom  requiring  each  man  to 
furnish  his  own  power  he  hitched  the  old  mare  to 
the  arm,  and  as  the  animal  moved  round,  the 
machinery  responded  with  equal  speed.  Abe  was 
mounted  on  the  arm,  and  at  frequent  intervals  made 
use  of  his  whip  to  urge  the  animal  on  to  better 
speed.  With  a  careless  '*  Get  up,  you  old  hussy,*'  he 
applied  the  lash  at  each  revolution  of  the  arm.  In 
the  midst  of  the  exclamation,  or  just  as  half  of  it 
had  escaped  through  his  teeth,  the  old  jade,  resent- 
ing the  continued  use  of  the  goad,  elevated  her 
shoeless  hoof  and  striking  the  young  engineer  in 
the  forehead,  sent  him  sprawling  to  the  earth. 
Miller  Gordon  hurried  in,  picked  up  the  bleeding, 
senseless  boy,  whom  he  took  for  dead,  and  at  once 
sent  for  his  father.  Old  Thomas  Lincoln  came — 
came  as  soon  as  embodied  listlessness  could  move — ' 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  5  i 

loaded  the  lifeless  boy  in  a  wagon  and  drove 
home.  Abe  lay  unconscious  all  night,  but  towards 
break  of  day  the  attendants  noticed  signs  of  return- 
ing consciousness.  The  blood  beginning  to  flow 
normally,  his  tongue  struggled  to  loosen  itself,  his 
frame  jerked  for  an  instant,  and  he  awoke,  blurting 
out  the  words  ''you  old  hussy,"  or  the  latter  half  of 
the  sentence  interrupted  by  the  mare^s  heel  at  the 
mill. 

Mr.  Lincoln  considered  this  one  of  the  remarka- 
ble incidents  of  his  life.  He  often  referred  to  it, 
and  we  had  many  discussions  in  our  law  office  over 
the  psychological  phenomena  involved  in  the  opera- 
tion. Without  expressing  my  own  views  I  may  say 
that  his  idea  was  that  the  latter  half  of  the  expres- 
sion," Get  up,  you  old  hussy,*'  was  cut  off  by  a  sus- 
pension of  the  normal  flow  of  his  mental  energy, 
and  that  as  soon  as  life's  forces  returned  he  uncon- 
sciously ended  the  sentence ;  or,  as  he  in  a  plainer 
figure  put  it  :  ''Just  before  I  struck  the  old  mare 
my  will  through  the  mind  had  set  the  muscles  of 
my  tongue  to  utter  the  expression,  and  when  her 
heels  came  in  contact  with  my  head  the  whole  thing 
stopped  half-cocked,  as  it  were,  and  was  only  fired 
off  when  mental  energy  or  force  returned." 

By  the  time  he  had  reached  his  seventeenth  year 
he  had  attained  the  physical  proportions  of  a  full- 
grown  man.  He  was  employed  to  assist  James 
Taylor  in  the  management  of  a  ferry-boat  across 
the  Ohio  river  near  the  mouth  of  Anderson's  creek, 
but  was  not  allowed  a  man's  wages  for  the  work. 
He  received  thirty-seven   cents  a  day  for  what  he 


52  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

afterwards  told  me  was  the  roughest  work  a  young 
man  could  be  made  to  do.  In  the  midst  of  what- 
ever work  he  was  engaged  on  he  still  found  time 
to  utilize  his  pen.  He  prepared  a  composition  on 
the  American  Government,  calling  attention  to 
the  necessity  of  preserving  the  Constitution  and 
perpetuating  the  Union,  which  with  characteristic 
modesty  he  turned  over  to  his  friend  and  patron, 
William  Woods,  for  safe-keeping  and  perusal. 
Through  the  instrumentality  of  Woods  it  attracted 
the  attention  of  many  persons,  among  them  one 
Pitcher,^  a  lawyer  at  Rockport,  who  with  faintly 
concealed  enthusiasm  declared  '*  the  world  couldn't 
beat  it.*'  An  article  on  Temperance  was  shown 
under  similar  circumstance  to  Aaron  Farmer,  a 
Baptist  preacher  of  local  renown,  and  by  him  fur- 
nished to  an  Ohio  newspaper  for  publication.  The 
thing,  however,  which  gave  him  such  prominence — 
a  prominence  too  which  could  have  been  attained  in 
no  other  way — was  his  remarkable  physical  strength, 
for  he  was  becoming  not  only  one  of  the  longest, 


*  This  gentleman,  Judge  John  Pitcher,  ninety-three  years  old,  is 
still  living  in  Mount  Vernon,  Indiana.  He  says  that  young  Lincoln 
often  called  at  his  office  and  borrowed  books  to  read  at  home  during 
leisure  hours.  On  one  occasion  he  expressed  a  desire  to  study  law 
with  Pitcher,  but  explained  that  his  parents  were  so  poor  that  he 
could  not  be  spared  from  the  farm  on  which  they  lived.  "  He  related 
to  me  in  my  office  one  day,"  says  Pitcher,  "  an  account  of  his  payment 
to  Crawford  of  the  damage  done  to  the  latter's  book — Weems'  *  Life 
of  Washington.'  Lincoln  said,  "  You  see,  I  am  tall  and  long-armed, 
and  I  went  to  work  in  earnest.  At  the  end  of  the  two  days  there 
was  not  a  corn-blade  left  on  a  stalk  in  the  field.  I  wanted  to  pay  full 
damage  for  all  the  wetting  the  book  got.  and  I  made  a  clean  sweep.*' 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  53 

but  one  of  the  strongest  men  around  Gentryville. 
He  enjoyed  the  brief  distinction  his  exhibitions  of 
strength  gave  him  more  than  the  admiration  of  his 
friends  for  his  literary  or  forensic  efforts.  Some 
of  the  feats  attributed  to  him  almost  surpass  belief. 
One  witness  declares  he  was  equal  to  three  men, 
having  on  a  certain  occasion  carried  a  load  of  six 
hundred  pounds  At  another  time  he  walked  away 
with  a  pair  of  logs  which  three  robust  men  were 
skeptical  of  their  ability  to  carry.  *'  He  could 
strike  with  a  maul  a  heavier  blow — could  sink  an 
axe  deeper  into  wood  than  any  man  I  ever  saw/*  is 
the  testimony  of  another  witness. 

After  he  had  passed  his  nineteenth  year  and  was 
nearing  his  majority  he  began  to  chafe  and  grow 
restless  under  the  restraints  of  home  rule.  Seeing 
no  prospect  of  betterment  in  his  condition,  so  long 
as  his  fortune  was  interwoven  with  that  of  his  father, 
he  at  last  endeavored  to  strike  out  into  the  broad 
world  for  himself.  Having  great  faith  in  the  judg- 
ment and  influence  of  his  fast  friend  Wood,  he 
solicited  from  him  a  recommendation  to  the  officers 
of  some  one  of  the  boats  plying  up  and  down  the 
river,  hoping  thereby  to  obtain  employment  more 
congenial  than  the  dull,  fatiguing  work  of  the  farm. 
To  this  project  the  judicious  Wood  was  much 
opposed,  and  therefore  suggested  to  the  would-be 
boatman  the  moral  duty  that  rested  on  him  to 
remain  with  his  father  till  the  law  released  him  from 
that  obligation.  With  deep  regret  he  retraced  his 
steps  to  the  paternal  mansion,  seriously  determined 


54  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

not  to  evade  the  claim  from  which  in  a  few  weary 
months  he  would  be  finally  released.  Meanwhile 
occurred  his  first  opportunity  to  see  the  world.  In 
March,  1828,  James  Gentry,  for  whom  he  had  been 
at  work,  had  fitted  out  a  boat  with  a  stock  of  grain 
and  meat  for  a  trading  expedition  to  New  Orleans, 
and  placed  his  son  Allen  in  charge  of  the  cargo  for 
the  voyage.  Abe's  desire  to  make  a  river  trip  was 
at  last  satisfied,  and  he  accompanied  the  proprietor's 
son,  serving  as  ^*  bow  hand."  His  pay  was  eight 
dollars  a  month  and  board.  In  due  course  of  time 
the  navigators  returned  from  their  expedition  with 
the  evidence  of  profitable  results  to  gladden  the 
heart  of  the  owner.  The  only  occurrence  of  interest 
they  could  relate  of  the  voyage  was  the  encounter 
with  a  party  of  marauding  negroes  at  the  plantation 
of  Madame  Duchesne,  a  few  miles  below  Baton 
Rouge.  Abe  and  Gentry,  having  tied  up  for  the 
night,  were  fast  asleep  on  their  boat  when  aroused 
by  the  arrival  of  a  crowd  of  negroes  bent  on 
plunder.  They  set  to  work  with  clubs,  and  not 
only  drove  off  the  intruders,  but  pursued  them 
inland,  then  hastily  returning  to  their  quarters 
they  cut  loose  their  craft  and  floated  down-stream 
till  daylight. 

Before  passing  on  further  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
glance  for  a  moment  at  the  social  side  of  life  as  it 
existed  in  Gentryville  in  Abe's  day.  ^'  We  thought 
nothing,"  said  an  old  lady  whom  I  interviewed 
when  in  Indiana,  "  of  going  eight  or  ten  miles  to 
church.  The  ladies  did  not  stop  for  the  want  of  a 
shawl,  cloak,  or   riding-dress   in   winter  time,    but 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  55 

would  put  on  their  husbands*  old  overcoats  and 
wrap  up  their  little  ones  and  take  one  or  two  of 
them  on  their  beasts.  Their  husbands  would  walk, 
and  thus  they  would  go  to  church,  frequently  re- 
maining till  the  second  day  before  they  returned 
home.'* 

The  old  men  starting  from  the  fields  and  out  of 
the  woods  would  carry  their  guns  on  their  shoulders 
and  go  also.  They  dressed  in  deer-skin  pants,  moc- 
casins, and  coarse  hunting  shirts — the  latter  usually 
fastened  with  a  rope  or  leather  strap.  Arriving  at 
the  house  where  services  were  to  be  held  they 
would  recite  to  each  other  thrilling  stories  of  their 
hunting  exploits,  and  smoke  their  pipes  with  the 
old  ladies.  They  were  treated,  and  treated  each 
other,  with  the  utmost  kindness.  A  bottle  of  liquor, 
a  pitcher  of  water,  sugar,  and  glasses  were  set  out 
for  them  ;  also  a  basket  of  apples  or  turnips,  with, 
now  and  then,  a  pie  or  cakes.  Thus  they  regaled 
themselves  till  the  preacher  found  himself  in  a 
condition  to  begin.  The  latter,  having  also  partaken 
freely  of  the  refreshments  provided,  would  ^*  take  his 
stand,  draw  his  coat,  open  his  shirt  collar,  read  his 
text,  and  preach  and  pound  till  the  sweat,  produced 
alike  by  his  exertions  and  the  exhilarating  effects 
of  the  toddy,  rolled  from  his  face  in  great  drops. 
Shaking  hands  and  singing  ended  the  service." 

The  houses  were  scattered  far  apart,  but  the 
people  travelled  great  distances  to  participate  in 
the  frolic  and  coarse  fun  of  a  log-rolling  and  some- 
times a  wedding.  Unless  in  mid-winter  the  young 
ladies  carried  their  shoes  in  their  hands,  and  only 


56  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

put  them  on  when  the  scene  of  the  festivities  was 
reached.  The  ladies  of  maturer  years  drank  whiskey 
toddy,  while  the  men  took  the  whiskey  straight. 
They  all  danced  merrily,  many  of  them  barefooted, 
to  the  tune  of  a  cracked  fiddle  the  night  through. 
We  can  imagine  the  gleeful  and  more  hilarious 
swaggering  home  at  daybreak  to  the  tune  of  Den- 
nis Hanks'  festive  lines : 

"  Hail  Columbia,  happy  land, 
If  you  ain't  drunk  then  I'll  be  damned." 

Although  gay,  prosperous,  and  light-hearted, 
these  people  were  brimming  over  with  superstition. 
It  was  at  once  their  food  and  drink.  They  believed 
in  the  baneful  influence  of  witches,  pinned  their 
faith  to  the  curative  power  of  wizards  in  dealing 
with  sick  animals,  and  shot  the  image  of  a  witch 
with  a  silver  ball  to  break  the  spell  she  was  supposed 
to  have  over  human  beings.  They  followed  with 
religious  minuteness  the  directions  of  the  water- 
wizard,  with  his  magic  divining  rod,  and  the  faith 
doctor  who  wrought  miraculous  cures  by  strange 
sounds  and  signals  to  some  mysterious  agency. 
The  flight  of  a  bird  in  at  the  window,  the  breath  of 
a  horse  on  a  child's  head,  the  crossing  by  a  dog  of  a 
hunter's  path,  all  betokened  evil  luck  in  store  for 
some  one.  The  moon  exercised  greater  influence 
on  the  actions  of  the  people  and  the  growth  of 
vegetation  than  the  sun  and  all  the  planetary  sys- 
tem combined.  Fence  rails  could  only  be  cut  in  the 
light  of  the  moon,  and  potatoes  planted  in  the  dark 
of  the  moon.     Trees  and   plants  which  bore  their 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  57 

fruit  above  ground  could  be  planted  when  the  moon 
shone  full.  Soap  could  only  be  made  in  the  light 
of  the  moon,  and  it  must  only  be  stirred  in  one  way 
and  by  one  person.  They  had  the  horror  of  Friday 
which  with  many  exists  to  this  day.  Nothing  was 
to  be  begun  on  that  unlucky  day,  for  if  the  rule 
were  violated  an  endless  train  of  disasters  was  sure 
to  follow. 

Surrounded  by  people  who  believed  in  these 
things,  Lincoln  grew  to  manhood.  With  them  he 
walked,  talked,  and  labored,  and  from  them  he  also 
absorbed  whatever  of  superstition  showed  itself  in 
him  thereafter.  His  early  Baptist  training  made 
him  a  fatalist  up  to  the  day  of  his  death,  and, 
listening  in  boyish  wonder  to  the  legends  of  some 
toothless  old  dame  led  him  to  believe  in  the  sig- 
nificance of  dreams  and  visions.  His  surroundings 
helped  to  create  that  unique  character  which  in  the 
eyes  of  a  great  portion  of  the  American  people  was 
only  less  curious  and  amusing  than  it  was  august 
and  noble. 

The  winter  of  1829  was  marked  by  another  visi- 
tation of  that  dreaded  disease,  **  the  milk-sick.''  It 
was  making  the  usual  ravages  among  the  cattle. 
Human  victims  were  falling  before  it  every  day, 
and  it  caused  the  usual  stampede  in  southern  Indi- 
ana. Dennis  Hanks,  discouraged  by  the  prospect 
and  grieving  over  the  loss  of  his  stock,  proposed  a 
move  further  westward.  Returning  emigrants  had 
brought  encouraging  news  of  the  newly  developed 
state  of  Illinois.  Vast  stretches  of  rich  alluvial 
lands  were  to  be  had  there  on  the  easiest  of  terms. 


58  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

Besides  this,  Indiana  no  longer  afforded  any 
inducements  to  the  poor  man.  The  proposition 
of  Dennis  met  with  the  general  assent  of  the  Lin- 
coln family,  and  especially  suited  the  roving  and 
migratory  spirit  of  Thomas  Lincoln.  He  had  been 
induced  to  leave  Kentucky  for  the  hills  of  Indiana 
by  the  same  rosy  and  alluring  reports.  He  had 
moved  four  times  since  his  marriage  and  in  point 
of  worldly  goods  was  no  better  off  than  when  he 
started  in  life.  His  land  groaned  under  the  weight 
of  a  long  neglected  incumbrance  and,  like  many  of 
his  neighbors,  he  was  ready  for  another  change. 
Having  disposed  of  his  land  to  James  Gentry,  and 
his  grain  and  stock  to  young  David  Turnham,  he 
loaded  his  household  effects  into  a  wagon  drawn  by 
two  yoke  of  oxen,  and  in  March,  1830,  started  for 
Illinois.  The  two  daughters  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  had 
meanwhile  married  Dennis  Hanks  and  Levi  Hall, 
and  with  these  additions  the  party  numbered  thir- 
teen  in  all.  Abe  had  just  passed  his  twenty-first 
birthday. 

The  journey  was  a  long  and  tedious  one  ;  the 
streams  were  swollen  and  the  roads  were  muddy 
almost  to  the  point  of  impassability.  The  rude, 
heavy  wagon,  with  its  primitive  wheels,  creaked  and 
groaned  as  it  crawled  through  the  woods  and  now 
and  then  stalled  in  the  mud.  Many  were  the  delays, 
but  none  ever  disturbed  the  equanimity  of  its  pas- 
sengers. They  were  cheerful  in  the  face  of  all 
adversity,  hopeful,  and  some  of  them  determined; 
but  none  of  them  more  so  than  the  tall,  ungainly 
youth  in  buckskin  breeches  and  coon-skin  cap  who 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  59 

Wielded  the  gad  and  urged  the  patient  oxen  for 
ward.  As  these  humble  emigrants  entered  the  new 
State  little  did  the  curious  people  in  the  towns 
through  which  they  passed  dream  that  the  obscure 
and  penniless  driver  who  yelled  his  commands 
to  the  oxen  would  yet  become  Chief  Magistrate 
of  the  greatest  nation  of  modern  times. "^ 

*  Mr.  Lincoln  once  described  this  journey  to  me.  He  said  the 
ground  had  not  yet  yielded  up  the  frosts  of  winter ;  that  during  the 
day  the  roads  would  thaw  out  on  the  surface  and  at  night  freeze  over 
again,  thus  making  travelling,  espe'cially  with  oxen,  painfully  slow 
and  tiresome.  There  were,  of  course,  no  bridges,  and  the  party 
were  consequently  driven  to  ford  the  streams,  unless  by  a  circuitous 
route  they  could  avoid  them.  In  the  early  part  of  the  day  the  latter 
were  also  frozen  slightly,  and  the  oxen  would  break  through  a  square 
yard  of  thin  ice  at  every  step.  Among  other  things  which  the  party 
brought  with  them  was  a  pet  dog,  which  trotted  along  after  the 
wagon.  One  day  the  little  fellow  fell  behind  and  failed  to  catch  up 
till  after  they  had  crossed  the  stream.  Missing  him  they  looked 
back,  and  there,  on  the  opposite  bank,  he  stood,  whining  and  jump- 
ing about  in  great  distress.  The  water  was  running  over  the  broken 
edges  of  the  ice,  and  the  poor  animal  was  afraid  to  cross.  It  would 
not  pay  to  turn  the  oxen  and  wagon  back  and  ford  the  stream  again 
in  order  to  recover  a  dog,  and  so  the  majority,  in  their  anxiety  to 
move  forward,  decided  to  go  on  without  him.  "  But  I  could  not  en- 
dure the  idea  of  abandoning  even  a  dog,"  related  Lincoln.  *'  Pull- 
ing off  shoes  and  socks  I  waded  across  the  stream  and  triumphantly 
returned  with  the  shivering  animal  under  my  arm.  His  frantic  leaps 
of  joy  and  other  evidences  of  a  dog's  gratitude  amply  repaid  me  for 
all  the  exposure  I  had  undergone.'* 


CHAPTER  IV. 

After  a  fortnight  of  rough  and  fatiguing  travel 
the  colony  of  Indiana  emigrants  reached  a  point  in 
Illinois  five  miles  north-west  of  the  town  of  Deca- 
tur in  Macon  county.,  John  Hanks,  son  of  that 
Joseph  Hanks  in  whose  shop  at  Elizabethtown 
Thomas  Lincoln  had  learned  what  he  knew  of  the 
carpenter's  art,  met  and  sheltered  them  until  they 
were  safely  housed  on  a  piece  of  land  which  he  had 
selected  for  them  five  miles  further  westward.  He 
had  preceded  them  over  a  year,  and  had  in  the 
meantime  hewed  out  a  few  timbers  to  be  used  in 
the  construction  of  their  cabin.  The  place  he  had 
selected  was  on  a  bluff  overlooking  the  Sangamon 
river, — for  these  early  settlers  must  always  be  in 
sight  of  a  running  stream,— well  supplied  with  tim- 
ber. It  was  a  charming  and  picturesque  site,  and 
all  hands  set  resolutely  to  work  to  prepare  the  new 
abode.  One  felled  the  trees  ;  one  hewed  the  tim- 
bers for  the  cabin  ;  while  another  cleared  the  ground 
of  its  accumulated  growth  of  underbrush.  All  was 
bustle  and  activity.  Even  old  Thomas  Lincoln, 
infused  with  the  spirit  of  the  hour,  was  spurred  to 
unwonted  exertion.  What  part  of  the  work  fell 
to  his  lot  our  only  chronicler,  John  Hanks,  fails  to 
note  ;  but  it  is  conjectured  from  the  old  gentleman's 

60 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  6 1 

experience  in  the  art  of  building  that  his  services 
corresponded  to  those  of  the  more  modern  super- 
vising architect.  With  the  aid  of  the  oxen  and  a 
plow  John  and  Abe  broke  up  fifteen  acres  of  sod, 
and  '^  Abe  and  myself/'  observes  Hanks  in  a  mat- 
ter-of-fact way,  *'  split  rails  enough  to  fence  the 
place  in."  As  they  swung  their  axes,  or  with 
wedge  and  maul  split  out  the  rails,  how  strange  to 
them  the  thought  would  have  seemed  that  those 
,5elf-same  rails  were  destined  to  make  one  of  them 
immortal.  If  such  a  vision  flashed  before  the  mind 
of  either  he  made  no  sign  of  it,  but  each  kept  stead- 
ily on  in  his  simple,  unromantic  task. 

Abe  had  now  attained  his  majority  and  began  to 
throw  from  his  shoulders  the  vexations  of  parental 
restraint.  He  had  done  his  duty  to  his  father,  and 
felt  able  to  begin  life  on  his  own  account.  As  he 
steps  out  into  the  broad  and  inviting  \Yorld  we  take 
him  up  for  consideration  as  a  man.  At  the  same 
time  we  dispense  with  further  notice  of  his  father, 
Thomas  Lincoln.  In  the  son  are  we  alone  inter- 
ested. The  remaining  years  of  his  life  marked  no 
change  in  the  old  gentleman's  nature.  He  still  lis- 
tened to  the  glowing  descriptions  of  prosperity  in 
the  adjoining  counties,  and  before  his  death  moved 
three  times  in  search  of  better  times  and  a  healthy 
location.  In  1851  we  find  him  living  on  forty  acres 
of  land  on  Goose  Nest  prairie,  in  Coles  county,  Illi- 
nois. The  land  bore  the  usual  incumbrance — a 
mortgage  for  two  hundred  dollars,  which  his  son 
afterwards  paid.  On  the  17th  of  January,  after 
suffering  for  many  weeks  from  a  disorder  of  the  kid- 


62  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

neys,  he  passed  away  at  the  ripe  old  age — as  his  son 
tells  us — of  '^  seventy-three  years  and  eleven  days.'* 

For  a  long  time  after  beginning  life  on  his  own 
account  Abe  remained  in  sight  of  the  parental 
abode.  He  worked  at  odd  jobs  in  the  neighbor, 
hood,  or  wherever  the  demand  for  his  services  called 
him.  As  late  as  183 1  he  was  still  in  the  same  parts, 
and  John  Hanks  is  authority  for  the  statement  that 
he  "'  made  three  thousand  rails  for  Major  Warnick  ** 
walking  daily  three  miles  to  his  work.  During  the 
intervals  of  leisure  he  read  the  few  books  obtain- 
able, and  continued  the  practice  of  extemporaneous 
speaking  to  the  usual  audience  of  undemonstrative 
stumps  and  voiceless  trees.  His  first  attempt  at 
public  speaking  after  landing  in  Illinois  is  thus 
described  to  me  by  John  Hanks,  whose  language  I 
incorporate  :  ''  After  Abe  got  to  Decatur,  or  rather 
to  Macon  county,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Posey 
came  into  our  neighborhood  and  made  a  speech. 
It  was  a  bad  one,  and  I  said  Abe  could  beat  it.  I 
turned  down  a  box  and  Abe  made  his  speech.  The 
other  man  was  a  candidate — Abe  wasn't.  Abe  beat 
him  to  death,  his  subject  being  the  navigation  of 
the  Sangamon  river.  The  man,  after  Abe's  speech 
was  through,  took  him  aside  and  asked  him  where 
he  had  learned  so  much  and  how  he  could  do  so 
well.  Abe  replied,  stating  his  manner  and  method 
of  reading,  and  what  he  had  read.  The  man  encour- 
aged him  to  persevere.'* 

For  the  first  time  we  are  now  favored  with  the 
appearance  on  the  scene  of  a  very  important  per- 
sonage— one  destined    to  exert    no  little    influence 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  63 

in  shaping  Lincoln's  fortunes.  It  is  Denton  Offut,  a 
brisk  and  venturesome  business  man,  whose  opera- 
tions extended  up  and  down  the  Sangamon  river 
for  many  miles.  Having  heard  glowing  reports  of 
John  Hanks*  successful  experience  as  a  boatman  in 
Kentucky  he  had  come  down  the  river  to  engage  the 
latter's  services  to  take  a  boat-load  of  stock  and 
provisions  to  New  Orleans.  '^  He  wanted  me  to  go 
badly/*  observes  Hanks,  **  but  I  waited  awhile  be- 
fore answering.  I  hunted  up  Abe,  and  I  introduced 
him  and  John  Johnston,  his  step-brother,  to  Offut. 
After  some  talk  we  at  last  made  an  engagement 
with  Offut  at  fifty  cents  a  day  and  sixty  dollars  to 
make  the  trip  to  New  Orleans.  Abe  and  I  came 
down  the  Sangamon  river  in  a  canoe  in  March,  1831  ; 
landed  at  what  is  now  called  Jamestown,  five 
miles  east  of  Springfield,  then  known  as  Judy*s 
Ferry.'*  Here  Johnston  joined  them,  and,  leaving 
their  canoe  in  charge  of  one  Uriah  Mann,  they 
walked  to  Springfield,  where  after  some  inquiry 
they  found  the  genial  and  enterprising  Offut  regal- 
ing himself  with  the  good  cheer  dispensed  at  ''  The 
Buckhorn "  inn.  This  hostelry,  kept  by  Andrew 
Elliot,  was  the  leading  place  of  its  kind  in  the  then 
unpretentious  village  of  Springfield.  The  figure  of 
a  buck's  head  painted  on  a  sign  swinging  in  front  of 
the  house  gave  rise  to  its  name.  Offut  had  agreed 
with  Hanks  to  have  a  boat  ready  for  him  and  his 
two  companions  at  the  mouth  of  Spring  creek  on 
their  arrival,  but  too  many  deep  potations  with  the 
new-comers  who  daily  thronged  about  the  '*  Buck- 
horn  **    had    interfered  with   the  execution    of  his 


64  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

plans,  and  the  boat  still  remained  in  the  womb  ot 
the  future.  Offut  met  the  three  expectant  naviga- 
tors on  their  arrival,  and  deep  were  his  regrets  over 
his  failure  to  provide  the  boat.  The  interview 
resulted  in  the  trio  engaging  to  make  the  boat 
themselves.  From  what  was  known  as '^Congress 
land ''  they  obtained  an  abundance  of  timber,  and  by 
the  aid  of  the  machinery  at  Kirkpatrick's  mill  they 
soon  had  the  requisite  material  for  their  vessel. 
While  the  work  of  construction  was  going  on  a 
shanty  was  built  in  which  they  were  lodged.  Lin- 
coln was  elected  cook,  a  distinction  he  never  under- 
estimated for  a  moment.  Within  four  weeks  the 
boat  was  ready  to  launch.  Offut  was  sent  for,  and 
was  present  when  she  slid  into  the  water.  It  was 
the  occasion  of  much  political  chat  and  buncombe, 
in  which  the  Whig  party  and  Jackson  alike  were, 
strangely  enough,  lauded  to  the  skies.  It  is  difficult 
to  account  for  the  unanimous  approval  of  such 
strikingly  antagonistic  ideas,  unless  it  be  admitted 
that  Offut  must  have  brought  with  him  some  sub- 
stantial reminder  of  the  hospitality  on  draught  at 
the  '*  Buckhorn  "  inn.  Many  disputes  arose,  we  are 
told,  in  which  Lincoln  took  part  and  found  a  good 
field  for  practice  and  debate. 

A  travelling  juggler  halted  long  enough  in  San- 
gamontown,  where  the  boat  was  launched,  to  give 
an  exhibition  of  his  art  and  dexterity  in  the  loft  of 
Jacob  Carman's  house.  In  Lincoln's  low-crowned, 
broad-brimmed  hat  the  magician  cooked  eggs.  As 
explanator}'  of  the  delay  in  passing  up  his  hat  Lin* 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  65 

coin  drolly  observed/*  It  was  out  of  respect  for  the 
eggs,  not  care  for  my  hat.'* 

Having  loaded  the  vessel  with  pork  in  barrels, 
corn,  and  hogs,  these  sturdy  boatmen  swung  out 
into  the  stream.  On  April  19  they  reached  the  town 
of  New  Salem,  a  place  destined  to  be  an  important 
spot  in  the  career  of  Lincoln.  There  they  met 
with  their  first  serious  delay.  The  boat  stranded 
on  Rutledge's  mill-dam  and  hung  helplessly  over  it 
a  day  and  a  night.  ''  We  unloaded  the  boat,  *'  nar- 
rated one  of  the  crew  to  explain  how  they  obtained 
relief  from  their  embarrassing  situation  ; ''  that  is,  we 
transferred  the  goods  from  our  boat  to  a  borrowed 
one.  We  then  rolled  the  barrels  forward  ;  Lincoln 
bored  a  hole  in  the  end  [projecting]  over  the  dam; 
the  water  which  had  leaked  in  ran  out  and  we  slid 
over."  Offut  was  profoundly  impressed  with  this 
exhibition  of  Lincoln's  ingenuity.  In  his  enthusi- 
asm he  declared  to  the  crowd  who  covered  the  hill 
and  who  had  been  watching  Lincoln's  operation 
that  he  would  build  a  steamboat  to  plow  up  and 
down  the  Sangamon,  and  that  Lincoln  should  be  her 
Captain.  She  would  have  rollers  for  shoals  and 
dams,  runners  for  ice,  and  with  Lincoln  in  charge, 
"  By  thunder,  she'd  have  to  go  !  " 

After  release  from  their  embarrassing,  not  to  say 
perilous,  position  the  boat  and  her  crew  floated  away 
from  New  Salem  and  passed  on  to  a  point- known 
as  Blue  Banks,  where  as  the  historian  of  the  voyage 
says  :  **  We  had  to  load  some  hogs  bought  of  Squire 
Godbey.  We  tried  to  drive  them  aboard,  but  could 
not.     They  would  run  back  past  us.     Lincoln  then 


66  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

suggested  that  we  sew  their  eyes  shut.  Thinking  to 
try  it,  we  caught  them,  Abe  holding  their  heads  and 
I  their  tails  while  Offut  sewed  up  their  eyes.  Still 
they  wouldn't  drive.  At  last,  becoming  tired,  we 
carried  them  to  the  boat.  Abe  received  them  and 
cut  open  their  eyes,  Johnston  and  I  handing  them 
to  him."  After  thus  disposing  of  the  hog  problem 
they  again  swung  loose  and  floated  down-stream. 
From  the  Sangamon  they  passed  to  the  Illinois. 
At  Beardstown  their  unique  craft,  with  its  "  sails 
made  of  planks  and  cloth,''  excited  the  amusement 
and  laughter  of  those  who  saw  them  from  the 
shore.  Once  on  the  bosom  of  the  broad  Mis- 
sissippi they  glided  past  Alton,  St.  Louis,  and 
Cairo  in  rapid  succession,  tied  up  for  a  day  at 
Memphis,  and  made  brief  stops  at  Vicksburg  and 
Natchez.  Early  in  May  they  reached  New  Orleans, 
where  they  lingered  a  month,  disposing  of  their 
cargo  and  viewing  the  sights  which  the  Crescent 
City  afforded. 

In  New  Orleans,  for  the  first  time  Lincoln  be- 
held the  true  horrors  of  human  slavery.  He 
saw  ^^  negroes  in  chains — whipped  and  scourged.'* 
Against  this  inhumanity  his  sense  of  right  and 
justice  rebelled,  and  his  mind  and  conscience  were 
awakened  to  a  realization  of  what  he  had  often 
heard  and  read.  No  doubt,  as  one  of  his  compan- 
ions has  said,  ''  Slavery  ran  the  iron  into  him  then 
and  there."  One  morning  in  their  rambles  over 
the  city  the  trio  passed  a  slave  auction.  A  vigor- 
ous and  comely  mulatto  girl  was  being  sold.  She 
underwent  a  thorough  examination  at  the  hands  of     J 

I 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  6/ 

the  bidders;  they  pinched  her  flesh  and  made  her 
trot  up  and  down  the  room  like  a  horse,  to  show 
how  she  moved,  and  in  order,  as  the  auctioneer  said, 
that  **  bidders  might  satisfy  themselves  "  whether 
the  article  they  were  offering  to  buy  was  sound  or 
not.  The  whole  thing  was  so  revolting  that  Lincoln 
moved  away  from  the  scene  with  a  deep  feeling  of 
*'  unconquerable  hate/'  Bidding  his  companions 
follow  him  he  said,  ''  By  God,  boys,  let's  get  away 
from  this.  If  ever  I  get  a  chance  to  hit  that  thing 
[meaning  slavery],  Til  hit  it  hard."  This  incident 
was  furnished  me  in  1865,  by  John  Hanks.  I  have 
also  heard  Mr.  Lincoln  refer  to  it  himself. 

In  June  the  entire  party,  including  Offut,  boarded 
a  steamboat  going  up  the  river.  At  St.  Louis  they 
disembarked,  Offut  remaining  behind  while  Lin- 
coln, Hanks,  and  Johnston  started  across  Illinois 
on  foot.  At  Edwardsville  they  separated,  Hanks 
going  to  Springfield,  while  Lincoln  and  his  step- 
brother followed  the  road  to  Coles  county,  to  which 
point  old  Thomas  Lincoln  had  meanwhile  removed. 
Here  Abe  did  not  tarry  long,  probably  not  over  a 
month,  but  long  enough  to  dispose  most  effectually 
of  one  Daniel  Needham,  a  famous  wrestler  who  had 
challenged  the  returned  boatman  to  a  test  of 
strength.  The  contest  took  place  at  a  locality 
known  as  ^'Wabash  Point."  Abe  threw  his  an- 
tagonist twice  with  comparative  ease,  and  thereby 
demonstrated  such  marked  strength  and  agility  as 
to  render  him  forever  popular  with  the  boys  of  that 
neighborhood. 

In    August    the    waters    of  the    Sangamon    rive: 


68  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

washed  Lincoln  in  to  New  Salem.  This  once 
sprightly  and  thriving  village  is  no  longer  in  exist- 
ence. Not  a  building,  scarcely  a  stone,  is  left  to 
mark  the  place  where  it  once  stood.  To  reach  it 
now  the  traveller  must  ascend  a  bluff  a  hundred 
feet  above  the  general  level  of  the  surrounding 
country.  The  brow  of  the  ridge,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  broad  where  it  overlooks  the  river,  widens 
gradually  as  it  extends  westwardly  to  the  forest 
and  ultimately  to  broad  pastures.  Skirting  the  base 
of  the  bluff  is  the  Sangamon  river,  which,  coming 
around  a  sudden  bend  from  the  south-east,  strikes 
the  rocky  hill  and  is  turned  abruptly  north.  Here 
is  an  old  mill,  driven  by  water-power,  and  reaching 
across  the  river  is  the  mill-dam  on  which  Offut^s 
vessel  hung  stranded  in  April,  1831.  As  the  river 
rolled  her  turbid  waters  over  the  dam,  plunging 
them  into  the  whirl  and  eddy  beneath,  the  roar 
of  waters,  like  low,  continuous,  distant  thunder, 
could  be  distinctly  heard  through  the  village  day 
and  night. 

The  country  in  almost  every  direction  is  diversi- 
fied by  alternate  stretches  of  hills  and  level  lands, 
with  streams  between  each  struggling  to  reach  the 
river.  The  hills  are  bearded  with  timber — oak, 
hickory,  walnut,  ash,  and  elm.  Below  them  are 
stretches  of  rich  alluvial  bottom  land,  and  the  eye 
ranges  over  a  vast  expanse  of  foliage,  the  monotony 
of  which  is  relieved  by  the  alternating  swells  and 
depressions  of  the  landscape.  Between  peak  and 
peak,  through  its  bed  of  limestone,  sand,  and  clay, 
sometimes  kissing  the    feet  of  one  bluff  and  then 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  69 

hugging  the  other,  rolls  the  Sangamon  river.  The 
village  of  New  Salem,  which  once  stood  on  the 
ridge,  was  laid  out  in  1828  ;  it  became  a  trading 
place,  and  in  1836  contained  twenty  houses  and  a 
hundred  inhabitants.  In  the  days  of  land  offices  and 
stage-coaches  it  was  a  sprightly  village  with  a  busy 
market.  Its  people  were  progressive  and  industri- 
ous. Propitious  winds  filled  the  sails  of  its  com- 
merce, prosperity  smiled  graciously  on  its  every  en- 
terprise, and  the  outside  world  encouraged  its  social 
pretensions.  It  had  its  day  of  glory,  but,  singu- 
larly enough,  cotemporaneous  with  the  departure  of 
Lincoln  from  its  midst  it  went  into  a  rapid  decline. 
A  few  crumbling  stones  here  and  there  are  all  that 
attest  its  former  existence.  **  How  it  vanished/ 
observes  one  writer,  ^^  like  a  mist  in  the  morning, 
to  what  distant  places  its  inhabitants  dispersed, 
and  what  became  of  the  abodes  they  left  behind, 
shall  be  questions  for  the  local  historian.*' 

Lincoln's  return  to  New  Salem  in  August,  1831, 
was,  within  a  few  days,  contemporaneous  with  the 
reappearance  of  Offut,  who  made  the  gratifying 
announcement  that  he  had  purchased  a  stock  of 
goods  which  were  to  follow  him  from  Beardstown. 
He  had  again  retained  the  services  of  Lincoln  to 
assist  him  when  his  merchandise  should  come  to 
hand.  The  tall  stranger — destined  to  be  a  stranger 
in  New  Salem  no  longer — pending  the  arrival  of  his 
employer's  goods,  lounged  about  the  village  with 
nothing  to  do.  Leisure  never  sat  heavily  on  him. 
To  him  there  was  nothing  uncongenial  in  it,  and  he 
might  very  properly  have   been  dubbed  at  the  time 


^0  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

a  "'  loafer/*  He  assured  those  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact  that  he  was  a  piece  of  floating  driftwood ; 
that  after  the  winter  of  deep  snow,  he  had  come 
down  the  river  with  the  freshet ;  borne  along  by  the 
swelling  waters,  and  aimlessly  floating  about,  he  had 
accidentally  lodged  at  New  Salem.  Looking  back 
over  his  history  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that 
Providence  or  chance,  or  whatever  power  is  re- 
sponsible for  it,  could  not  have  assigned  him  to  a 
more  favorable  refuge. 

His  introduction  to  the  citizens  of  New  Salem,  as 
Mentor  Graham"^  the  school-teacher  tells  us,  was  in 
the  capacity  of  clerk  of  an  election  board.  Graham 
furnishes  ample  testimony  of  the  facility,  fairness, 
and  honesty  which  characterized  the  new  clerk's 
work,  and  both  teacher  and  clerk  were  soon  bound 
together  by  the  warmest  of  ties.  During  the  day, 
when  votes  were  coming  in  slowly,  Lincoln  began 
to  entertain  the  crowd  at  the  polls  with  a  few 
attempts  at  story-telling.  My  cousin,  J.  R.  Herndon, 
was  present  and  enjoyed  this  feature  of  the  election 
with  the  keenest  relish.  He  never  forgot  some  of 
Lincoln's  yarns,  and  was  fond  of  repeating  them  in 
after  years.  The  recital  of  a  few  stories  by  Lincoln 
easily  established  him  in  the  good  graces  of  all 
New  Salem.  Perhaps  he  did  not  know  it  at  the  time, 
but  he  had  used  the  weapon  nearest  at  hand  and 
had  won.f 

*  Nicolay  and  Hay  in  the  Century  make  the  mistake  of  spelling 
this  man's  name  "  Menton  '^  Graham.  In  all  the  letters  and  papers 
from  him  he  signs  himself  "  Mentor  "  in  every  case.— J.  Wo  W. 

^  "  In  the  afternoon,  as  things  were  dragging  a  little,  Lincoln  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  7 1 

A  few  days  after  the  election  Lincoln  found  em.- 
ployment  with  one  Dr.  Nelson,  who  after  the  style 
of  dignitaries  of  later  days  started  with  his  family 
and  effects  in  his  ''  private  '*  conveyance — which  in 
this  instance  was  a  flat-boat — for  Texas.  Lincoln 
was  hired  to  pilot  the  vessel  through  to  the  Illinois 
river.  Arriving  at  Beardstown  the  pilot  was  dis- 
charged, and  returned  on  foot  across  the  sand  and 


new  man,  began  to  spin  out  a  stock  of  Indiana  yarns.  One  that 
amused  me  more  than  any  other  he  called  the  lizard  story.  '  The 
meeting-house,'  *he  said,  '  was  in  the  woods  and  quite  a  distance 
from  any  other  house.  It  was  only  used  once  a  month.  The  preacher 
— an  old  line  Baptist — was  dressed  in  coarse  linen  pantaloons,  ana 
shirt  of  the  same  material.  The  pants,  manufactured  after  the  old 
fashion,  with  baggy  legs  and  a  flap  in  front,  were  made  to  attach 
to  his  frame  without  the  aid  of  suspenders.  A  single  button  held 
his  shirt  in  position,  and  that  was  at  the  collar.  He  rose  up  in  the 
pulpit  and  with  a  loud  voice  announced  his  text  thus  :  *  I  am  the 
Christ,  whom  I  shall  represent  to-day.*  About  this  time  a  little 
blue  lizard  ran  up  underneath  his  roomy  pantaloons.  The  old 
preacher,  not  wishing  to  interrupt  the  steady  flow  of  his  sermon, 
slapped  away  on  his  legs,  expecting  to  arrest  the  intruder;  but  his 
efforts  were  unavailing,  and  the  little  fellow  kept  on  ascending  higher 
and  higher.  Continuing  the  sermon,  the  preacher  slyly  loosened 
the  central  button  which  graced  the  waist-band  of  his  pantaloons 
and  with  a  kick  off  came  that  easy-fitting  garment.  But  meanwhile 
Mr.  Lizard  had  passed  the  equatorial  line  of  waist-band  and  was 
calmly  exploring  that  part  of  the  preacher's  anatomy  which  lay 
underneath  the  back  of  his  shirt.  Things  were  now  growing  inter- 
esting, but  the  sermon  was  still  grinding  on.  The  next  movement  on 
the  preacher's  part  was  for  the  collar  button,  and  with  one  sweep  of 
his  arm  off  came  the  tow  linen  shirt.  The  congregation  sat  for  an 
nstant  as  if  dazed ;  at  length  one  old  lady  in  the  rear  of  the  room 
rose  up  and  glancing  at  the  excited  object  in  the  pulpit,  shouted  at 
the  top  of  her  voice :  *  If  you  represent  Christ  then  I'm  done  with 
the  Bible.'  "—J.  R.  Hemdon,  MS.,  July  2,  1865. 


72  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

hills  to  New  Salem.  In  the  meantime  Offut's  long 
expected  goods  had  arrived,  and  Lincoln  was  placed 
in  charge.  Offut  relied  in  no  slight  degree  on  the 
business  capacity  of  his  clerk.  In  his  effusive  way- 
he  praised  him  beyond  reason.  He  boasted  of  his 
skill  as  a  business  man  and  his  wonderful  intellect- 
ual acquirements.  As  for  physical  strength  and 
fearlessness  of  danger,  he  challenged  New  Salem 
and  the  entire  world  to  produce  his  equal.  In 
keeping  with  his  widely  known  spirit  of  enterprise 
Offut  rented  the  Rutledge  and  Cameron  mill,  which 
stood  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and  thus  added  another 
iron  to  keep  company  with  the  half-dozen  already 
in  the  fire.  As  a  further  test  of  his  business  ability 
Lincoln  was  placed  in  charge  of  this  also.  William 
G.  Greene  was  hired  to  assist  him,  and  between  the 
two  a  life-long  friendship  sprang  up.  They  slept  in 
the  store,  and  so  strong  was  the  intimacy  between 
them  that  *'when  one  turned  over  the  other  had  to 
do  likewise.'*  At  the  head  of  these  varied  enter- 
prises was  Offut,  the  most  progressive  man  by  all 
odds  in  the  village.  He  was  certainly  an  odd 
character,  if  we  accept  the  judgment  of  his  cotem- 
poraries.  By  some  he  is  given  the  character  of 
a  clear-headed,  brisk  man  of  affairs.  By  others 
he  is  variously  described  as  *^  wild,  noisy,  and 
reckless,'*  or  **  windy,  rattle-brained,  unsteady,  and 
improvident."  Despite  the  unenviable  traits  as- 
cribed to  him  he  was  good  at  heart  and  a  generous 
friend  of  Lincoln.  His  boast  that  the  latter  could 
outrun,  whip,  or  throw  down  any  man  in  Sangamon 
county  was  soon  tested,  as  we   shall   presently  see, 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  73 

for,  as  another  has  truthfully  expressed  it,  '*  honors 
such  as  Offut  accorded  to  Abe  were  to  be  won  be- 
fore they  were  worn  at  New  Salem/'  In  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  village,  or  rather  a  few  miles  to  the 
south-west,  lay  a  strip  of  timber  called  Clary's  Grove. 
The  boys  who  lived  there  were  a  terror  to  the 
entire  region — seemingly  a  necessary  product  of 
frontier  civilization.  They  were  friendly  and  good- 
natured  ;  they  could  trench  a  pond,  dig  a  bog,  build 
a  house  ;  they  could  pray  and  fight,  make  a  village 
or  create  a  state.  They  would  do  almost  anything 
for  sport  or  fun,  love  or  necessity.  Though  rude 
and  rough,  though  life's  forces  ran  over  the  edge 
of  the  bowl,  foaming  and  sparkling  in  pure  dev- 
iltry for  deviltry's  sake,  yet  place  before  them 
a  poor  man  who  needed  their  aid,  a  lame  or  sick 
man,  a  defenceless  woman,  a  widow,  or  an  orphaned 
child,  they  melted  into  sympathy  and  charity  at 
once.  They  gave  all  they  had,  and  willingly  toiled 
or  played  cards  for  more.  Though  there  never  was 
under  the  sun  a  more  generous  parcel  of  rowdies, 
a  stranger's  introduction  was  likely  to  be  the  most 
unpleasant  part  of  his  acquaintance  with  them. 
They  conceded  leadership  to  one  Jack  Armstrong. 
a  hardy,  strong,  and  well-developed  specimen  of 
physical  manhood,  and  under  him  they  were  in  the 
habit  of  ''  cleaning  out  *'  New  Salem  whenever  his 
order  went  forth  to  do  so.  Offut  and  ''  Bill  "  Clary 
— the  latter  skeptical  of  Lincoln's  strength  and 
agility — ended  a  heated  discussion  in  the  store  one 
day  over  the  new  clerk's  ability  to  meet  the  tactics 
of  Clary's  Grove,  by  a  bet  of  ten  dollars  that  Jack 


74  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLA. 

Armstrong  was,  in  the  language  of  the  day,  *'  a 
better  man  than  Lincoln/'  The  new  clerk  strongly 
opposed  this  sort  of  an  introduction,  but  after 
much  entreaty  from  Offut,  at  last  consented  to  make 
his  bow  to  the  social  lions  of  the  town  in  this  un- 
usual way.  He  was  now  six  feet  four  inches  high, 
and  weighed,  as  his  friend  and  confidant,  William 
Greene,  tells  us  with  impressive  precision,  *' two  hun- 
dred and  fourteen  pounds."  The  contest  was  to 
be  a  friendly  one  and  fairly  conducted.  All  New 
Salem  adjourned  to  the  scene  of  the  wrestle. 
Money,  whiskey,  knives,  and  all  manner  of  property 
were  staked  on  the  result.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
go  into  the  details  of  the  encounter.  Every- 
one knows  how  it  ended ;  how  at  last  the  tall 
and  angular  rail-splitter,  enraged  at  the  suspicion 
of  foul  tactics,  and  profiting  by  his  height 
and  the  length  of  his  arms,  fairly  lifted  the 
great  bully  by  the  throat  and  shook  him  like  a 
rag ;  how  by  this  act  he  established  himself  solidly 
in  the  esteem  of  all  New  Salem,  and  secured 
the  respectful  admiration  and  friendship  of  the 
very  man  whom  he  had  so  thoroughly  vanquished.* 
From  this  time  forward  Jack  Armstrong,  his    wife 

♦  Mr.  Lincoln's  remarkable  strength  resulted  not  so  much  from 
muscular  power  as  from  the  toughness  of  his  sinews.  He  could 
not  only  lift  from  the  ground  enormous  weight,  but  could  throw  a 
cannon-ball  or  a  maul  farther  than  anyone  else  in  New  Salem.  I 
heard  him  explain  once  how  he  was  enabled  thus  to  excel  others. 
He  did  not  attribute  it  to  a  greater  proportion  of  physical  strength, 
but  contended  that  because  of  the  unusuaf  length  of  his  arms  the  ball 
or  projectile  had  a  greater  swing  and  therefore  acquired  more  force 
and  momentum  than  in  the  hands  of  an  average  man. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  75 

Hannah,  and  all  the  other  Armstrongs  became  his 
warm  and  trusted  friends.  None  stood  readier 
than  they  to  rally  to  his  support,  none  more  will- 
ing to  lend  a  helping  hand.  Lincoln  appreciated 
their  friendship  and  support,  and  in  after  years 
proved  his  gratitude  by  saving  one  member  of  the 
family  from  the  gallows. 

The  business  done  over  Oflut^s  counter  gave  his 
clerk  frequent  intervals  of  rest,  so  that,  if  so  inclined, 
an  abundance  of  time  for  study  was  always  at  his 
disposal.  Lincoln  had  long  before  realized  the 
deficiencies  of  his  education,  and  resolved,  now  that 
the  conditions  were  favorable,  to  atone  for  early 
neglect  by  a  course  of  study.  Nothing  was  more 
apparent  to  him  than  his  limited  knowledge  of 
language,  and  the  proper  way  of  expressing  his  ideas. 
Moreover,  it  may  be  said  that  he  appreciated  his 
inefficiency  in  a  rhetorical  sense,  and  therefore  de- 
termined  to  overcome  all  these  obstacles  by  master- 
ing the  intricacies  of  grammatical  construction. 
Acting  on  the  advice  of  Mentor  Graham  he  hunted 
up  one  Vaner,  who  was  the  reputed  owner  of  Kirk- 
ham's  Grammar,  and  after  a  walk  of  several  miles 
returned  to  the  store  with  the  coveted  volume  under 
his  arm.  With  zealous  perseverance  he  at  once 
applied  himself  to  the  book.  Sometimes  he  would 
stretch  out  at  full  length  on  the  counter,  his  head 
propped  up  on  a  stack  of  calico  prints,  studying  it ; 
or  he  would  steal  away  to  the  shade  of  some  invit- 
ing tree,  and  there  spend  hours  at  a  time  in  a  deter- 
mined effort  to  fix  in  his  mind  the  arbitrary  rule 
that  *'  adverbs  qualify  verbs,  adjectives,  and  other 


76  THE  LIFE  OF  LTNCOLN, 

adverbs/'  From  the  vapidity  of  grammar  it  was 
now  and  then  a  great  relaxation  to  turn  to  the  more 
agreeable  subject  of  mathematics  ;  and  he  might 
often  have  been  seen  lying  face  downwards,  stretched 
out  over  six  feet  of  grass,  figuring  out  on  scraps  of 
paper  some  problem  given  for  solution  by  a  quiz- 
zical store  lounger,  or  endeavoring  to  prove  that, 
*^  multiplying  the  denominator  of  a  fraction  divides 
it,  while  dividing  the  denominator  multiplies  it." 
Rather  a  poor  prospect  one  is  forced  to  admit  for 
a  successful  man  of  business. 

At  this  point  in  my  narrative  I  am  pained  to  drop 
from  further  notice  our  buoyant  and  effusive  friend 
Offut.  His  business  ventures  failing  to  yield  the  ex- 
tensive returns  he  predicted,  and  too  many  of  his  obli- 
gations maturing  at  the  same  time,  he  was  forced  to 
pay  the  penalty  of  commercial  delinquency  and  went 
to  the  wall.  He  soon  disappeared  from  the  village, 
and  the  inhabitants  thereof  never  knew  whither  he 
went.  In  the  significant  language  of  Lincoln  he 
*' petered  out."  As  late  as  1873  I  received  a  letter 
from  Dr.  James  Hall,  a  physician  living  at  St.  Den- 
nis,  near  Baltimore,  Maryland,  who,  referring  to  the 
disappearance  of  Offut,  relates  the  following  reminis- 
cence :  *^  Of  what  consequence  to  know  or  learn 
more  of  Offut  I  cannot  imagine  ;  but  be  assured  he 
turned  up  after  leaving  New  Salem,  On  meeting 
the  name  it  seemed  familiar,  but  1  could  not  locate 
him.  Finally  I  fished  up  from  memory  that  some 
twenty-five  years  ago  one  '*  Denton  Offut'*  appeared 
in  Baltimore,  hailing  from  Kentucky,  advertising 
himself  in  the   city  papers  as  a  veterinary  surgeon 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  yy 

and  horse  tamer,  professing  to  have  a  secret  to  whis- 
per in  the  horse^s  ear,  or  a  secret  manner  of  whisper^ 
ing  in  his  ear,  which  he  could  communicate  to  oth- 
ers, and  by  which  the  most  refractory  and  vicious 
horse  could  be  quieted  and  controlled.  For  this 
secret  he  charged  five  dollars,  binding  the  recipient 
by  oath  not  to  divulge  it.  I  know  several  persons, 
young  fancy  horsemen,  who  paid  for  the  trick. 
Offut  advertised  himself  not  only  through  the  press, 
but  by  his  strange  attire.  He  appeared  in  the 
streets  on  horseback  and  on  foot,  in  plain  citizens' 
dress  of  black,  but  with  a  broad  sash  across  his  right 
shoulder,  of  various  colored  ribbons,  crossed  on  his 
left  hip  under  a  large  rosette  of  the  same  material, 
the  whole  rendering  his  appearance  most  ludicrously 
conspicuous.  Having  occasion  to  purchase  a  horse 
I  encountered  him  at  several  of  our  stables  and  was 
strongly  urged  to  avail  myself  of  his  secret.  So 
much  for  Offut;  but  were  he  living  in  '6i,  I  doubt 
not  Mr.  Lincoln  would  have  heard  of  him.'* 

The  early  spring  of  1832  brought  to  Springfield 
and  New  Salem  a  most  joyful  announcement.  It 
was  the  news  of  the  coming  of  a  steamboat  down 
the  Sangamon  river — proof  incontestable  that  the 
stream  was  navigable.  The  enterprise  was  under- 
taken and  carried  through  by  Captain  Vincent  Bogue, 
of  Springfield,  who  had  gone  to  Cincinnati  to  procure 
a  vessel  and  thus  settle  the  much-mooted  question 
of  the  river's  navigability.  When,  therefore,  he 
notified  the  people  of  his  town  that  the  steam- 
boat Talisman  would  put  out  from  Cincinnati  for 
Springfield,  we  can  well  imagine  what  great  excite- 


78  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

merit  and  unbounded  enthusiasm  followed  the  an< 
nouncement.  Springfield,  New  Salem,  and  all  the 
other  towns  along  the  now  interesting  Sangamon*^ 
were  to  be  connected  by  water  with  the  outside 
world.  Public  meetings,  with  the  accompaniment 
of  long  subscription  lists,  were  held  ;  the  merchants 
of  Springfield  advertised  the  arrival  of  goods  **  di- 
rect from  the  East  per  steamer  Talisman ;''  the 
mails  were  promised  as  often  as  once  a  week  from 
the  same  direction  ;  all  the  land  adjoining  each 
enterprising  and  aspiring  village  along  the  river  was 
subdivided  into  town  lots — in  fact,  the  whole  region 
began  to  feel  the  stimulating  effects  of  what,  in 
later  days,  would  have  been  called  a  **boom/*  I 
remember  the  occasion  well,  for  two  reasons.  It 
was  my  first  sight  of  a  steamboat,  and  also  the  first 
time  I  ever  saw  Mr.  Lincoln — although  I  never  be- 
came acquainted  with  him  till  his  second  race  for 
the  Legislature  in  1834.  In  response  to  the  sug- 
gestion of  Captain  Bogue,  made  from  Cincinnati,  a 
number  of  citizens — among  the  number  Lincoln — 
had  gone  down  the  river  to  Beardstown  to  meet 
the  vessel  as  she  emerged  from  the  Illinois.  These 
were  armed  with  axes  having  long  handles,  to  cut 
away,  as  Bogue  had  recommended,  **  branches  of  trees 
hanging  over  from  the  banks.*'  After  having  passed 
New  Salem,  I  and  other  boys  on  horseback  followed 
the  boat,  riding  along  the    river's    bank  as   far  as 


*  The  final  syllable  of  this  name  was  then  pronounced  to  rhyme 
with  **  raw."  In  later  days  the  letter  "  n"  was  added — probably  for 
euphony's  sake. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


79 


Bogue's  mill,  where  she  tied  up.  There  we  went 
aboard,  and  lost  in  boyish  wonder,  feasted  our  eyes 
on  the  splendor  of  her  interior  decorations.  The 
Sangamon  Journal  of  that  period  contains  numer- 
ous poetical  efforts  celebrating  the  Talis- 
mans  arrival.  A  few  lines  under  date  of  April 
5,  1832,  unsigned,  but  supposed  to  have  been 
the  product  of  a  local  poet — one  Oliphant* — were 
sung  to  the  tune  of  **Clar  de  Kitchen."  I  cannot 
refrain  from  inflicting  a  stanza  or  two  of  this  ode  on 
the  reader  : 

"  O,  Captain  Bogue  he  gave  the  load, 
And  Captain  Bogue  he  showed  the  road ; 
And  we  came  up  with  a  right  good  will, 
And  tied  our  boat  up  to  his  mill. 

Now  we  are  up  the  Sangamo, 
And  here  we'll  have  a  grand  hurra. 
So  fill  your  glasses  to  the  brim, 
Of  whiskey,  brandy,  wine,  and  gin. 

Illinois  suckers,  young  and  raw, 
Were  strung  along  the  Sangamo, 
To  see  a  boat  come  up  by  steam 
They  surely  thought  it  was  a  dream.'* 

On  its  arrival  at  Springfield,  or  as  near  Springfield 
as  the  river  ran,  the  crew  of  the  boat  were  given  a 
reception  and  dance  in  the  court-house.  The  cream 
of  the  town's  society  attended  to  pay  their  respects 
to  the  newly  arrived  guests.  The  captain  in  charge 
of  the  boat — not  Captain  Bogue,  but  a  vainly 
dressed  fellow  from  the  East — was  accompanied  by 
a  woman,  more   gaudily  attired  than  himself,  whom 

*  E.  P.  Oliphant,  a  lawyer. 


8o  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

he  introduced  as  his  wife.  Of  course  the  most  con- 
siderate  attention  was  shown  them  both,  until  later 
in  the  evening,  when  it  became  apparent  that  the 
gallant  officer  and  his  fair  partner  had  imbibed  too 
freely — for  in  those  days  we  had  plenty  of  good 
cheer — and  were  becoming  unpleasantly  demonstra- 
tive in  their  actions.  This  breach  of  good  manners 
openly  offended  the  high-toned  nature  of  Spring- 
field's fair  ladies  ;  but  not  more  than  the  lament- 
able fact,  which  they  learned  on  the  following  day, 
that  the  captain's  partner  was  not  his  wife  after  all, 
but  a  woman  of  doubtful  reputation  whom  he  had 
brought  with  him  from  some  place  further  east. 
But  to  return  to  the  Talisman,  That  now  inter- 
esting vessel  lay  for  a  week  longer  at  Bogue's  mill, 
when  the  receding  waters  admonished  her  officers 
that  unless  they  purposed  spending  the  remainder 
of  the  year  there  they  must  head  her  down-stream, 
In  this  emergency  recourse  was  had  to  my  cousin 
Rowan  Herndon,  who  had  had  no  little  experience 
as  a  boatman,  and  who  recommended  the  employ- 
ment of  Lincoln  as  a  skilful  assistant.  These  two 
inland  navigators  undertook  therefore  the  contract 
of  piloting  the  vessel — which  had  now  become  ele- 
phantine in  proportions — through  the  uncertain 
channel  of  the  Sangamon  to  the  Illinois  river. 
The  average  speed  was  four  miles  a  day.  At  New 
Salem  safe  passage  over  the  mill-dam  was  deemed 
impossible  unless  the  same  could  be  lowered  or  a 
portion    removed.^     To    this,    Cameron    and    Rut- 

*  The  affair  at  New  Salem  is  thus  described  by  Oliphant  in  the 
poem  before  referred  to  : 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  8 1 

ledge,  owners  of  the  mill,  entered  their  most  stren- 
uous protest.  The  boat^s  officers  responded  that 
under  the  Federal  Constitution  and  laws  no  one  had 
the  right  to  dam  up  or  in  any  way  obstruct  a  navi- 
gable stream,  and  they  argued  that,  as  they  had  just 
demonstrated  that  the  Sangamon  was  navigable  (?), 
they  proposed  to  remove  enough  of  the  obstruc- 
tion to  let  the  boat  through.  Rowan  Herndon^ 
describing  it  to  me  in  1865,  said:  ''When  we 
struck  the  dam  she  hung.  We  then  backed  off  and 
threw  the  anchor  over.  We  tore  away  part  of  the 
dam  and  raising  steam  ran  her  over  on  the  first 
trial.''  The  entire  proceeding  stirred  up  no  little 
feeling,  in  which  mill  owners,  boat  officers,  and  pas- 
sengers took  part.  The  effect  the  return  trip  of 
the  Talisman  had  on  those  who  believed  in  the 
successful  navigation  of  the  Sangamon  is  shrewdly 
indicated  by  the  pilot,  who  with  laconic  compla- 
cency adds:  "As  soon  as  she  was  over,  the  com- 
pany that  chartered  her  was  done  with  her.''  Lin- 
coln and  Herndon,  in  charge  of  the  vessel,  piloted 
her  through  to  Beardstown.  There  they  were  paid 
forty  dollars  each,  according  to  contract,  and  bid- 
ding adieu  to  the  Talismans  officers  and  crew, 
set  out  on  foot  for  New  Salem  again.  A  few 
months  later  the  Talisman  caught  fire  at  the 
wharf  in  St.  Louis  and  went  up  in  flames.  The 
experiment  of  establishing  a  steamboat  line  to 
'  <■*> 

"  And  when  we  came  to  Salem  dam, 
Up  we  went  against  it  jam ; 
We  tried  to  cross  with  all  our  might, 
But  found  we  couldn't  and  staid  all  night." 


82  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

Springfield  proved  an  unfortunate  venture  for  its 
projector,  Captain  Bogue.  Finding  himself  unable 
to  meet  his  rapidly  maturing  obligations,  incurred  in 
aid  of  the  enterprise,  it  is  presumed  that  he  left  the 
country,  for  the  Journal  of  that  period  is  filled 
with  notices  of  attachment  proceedings  brought  by 
vigilant  creditors  who  had  levied  on  his  goods. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  departure  of  the  Talisman  for  deeper 
waters,  the  downfall  of  Denton  Offut's  varied 
enterprises  and  his  disappearance  from  New  Salem, 
followed  in  rapid  succession,  and  before  the  spring 
of  1832  had  merged  into  summer  Lincoln  found 
himself  a  piece  of  ''  floating  driftwood ''  again. 
Where  he  might  have  lodged  had  not  the  Black 
Hawk  war  intervened  can  only  be  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture.  A  glance  at  this  novel  period  in  his  life 
may  not  be  out  of  keeping  with  the  purpose  of  this 
book.  The  great  Indian  chief,  Black  Hawk,  who 
on  the  30th  of  June,  1831,  had  entered  into  an 
agreement,  having  all  the  solemnity  of  a  treaty,  with 
Governor  Reynolds  and  General  Gaines  that  none  of 
his  tribe  should  ever  cross  the  Mississippi  ''  to  their 
usual  place  of  residence,  nor  any  part  of  their  old 
hunting  grounds  east  of  the  Mississippi,  without 
permission  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  or 
the  governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois,"  had  openly 
broken  the  compact.  On  the  6th  of  April,  1832,  he 
recrossed  the  Mississippi  and  marched  up  Rock 
River  Valley,  accompanied  by  about  five  hundred 
warriors  on  horseback  ;  while  his  women  and  children 
went  up  the  river  in  canoes.  The  great  chief  was 
now  sixty-seven  years  old,  and  believed  that  his  plots 

83 


84  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

were  all  ripe  and  his  allies  fast  and  true.  Although 
warned  by  General  Atkinson,  then  in  command  of 
Fort  Armstrong,  against  this  aggression,  and 
ordered  to  return,  he  proudly  refused,  claiming  that 
he  had  *'  come  to  plant  corn."  On  being  informed 
of  the  movement  of  Black  Hawk  Governor  Reynolds 
called  for  a  thousand  mounted  volunteers  to  co-op- 
erate with  the  United  States  forces  under  command 
of  General  Atkinson,  and  drive  the  wily  Indian 
back  across  the  Mississippi.  The  response  to  the 
governor's  call  was  prompt  and  energetic.  In  the 
company  from  Sangamon  county  Lincoln  enlisted, 
and  now  for  the  first  time  entered  on  the  vicissi- 
tudinous  and  dangerous  life  of  a  soldier.  That  he 
in  fact  regarded  the  campaign  after  the  Indians  as 
a  sort  of  holiday  affair  and  chicken-stealing  expe- 
dition is  clearly  shown  in  a  speech  he  afterwards 
made  in  Congress  in  exposure  of  the  military  pre- 
tensions of  General  Cass.  However,  in  grim,  sol- 
dierly severity  he  marched  with  the  Sangamon 
county  contingent  to  Rushville,*  in  Schuyler 
county,  where,  much  to  his  surprise,  he  was  elected 

*  While  at  the  rendezvous  at  Rushville  and  on  the  march  to  the 
front  Lincoln  of  course  drilled  his  men,  and  gave  them  such  meager 
instruction  in  military  tactics  as  he  could  impart.  Some  of  the  most 
grotesque  things  he  ever  related  were  descriptions  of  these  drills. 
In  marching  one  morning  at  the  head  of  the  company,  who  were 
following  in  lines  of  twenty  abreast,  it  became  necessary  to  pass 
through  a  gate  much  narrower  than  the  lines.  The  captain  could 
not  remember  the  proper  command  to  turn  the  company  endwise^ 
and  the  situation  was  becoming  decidedly  embarrassing,  when  one  of 
those  thoughts  born  of  the  depths  of  despair  came  to  his  rescue. 
Facing  the  lines,  he  shouted  :  *^  Halt  !  This  company  will  break  ranks 
for  two  minutes  and  form  again  on  the  other  side  of  the  gate.''  The 
manoeuvre  was  successfully  executed. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


85 


captain  of  the  company  over  William  Kirkpatrick. 
A  recital  of  the  campaign  that  followed,  in  the  effort 
to  drive  the  treacherous  Indians  back,  or  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  few  engagements — none  of  which 
reached  the  dignity  of  a  battle — which  took  place, 
have  in  no  wise  been  overlooked  by  the  historians 
of  Illinois  and  of  the  Black  Hawk  war.  With  the 
exception  of  those  things  which  relate  to  Lincoln 
alone  I  presume  it  would  be  needless  to  attempt  to 
add  anything  to  what  has  so  thoroughly  and  truth- 
fully been  told. 

On  being  elected  captain,  Lincoln  replied  in  a 
brief  response  of  modest  and  thankful  acceptance. 
It  was  the  first  official  trust  ever  turned  over  to  his 
keeping,  and  he  prized  it  and  the  distinction  it  gave 
him  more  than  any  which  in  after  years  fell  to  his 
lot.  His  company  savored  strongly  of  the  Clary's 
Grove  order,  and  though  daring  enough  in  the 
presence  of  danger,  were  difficult  to  bring  down  to 
the  inflexibilities  of  military  discipline.  Each  one 
seemed  perfectly  able  and  willing  to  care  for  him- 
self, and  while  the  captain's  authority  was  respect- 
fully observed,  yet,  as  some  have  said,  they  were 
none  the  less  a  crowd  of  **  generous  ruffians."  I 
heard  Mr.  Lincoln  say  once  on  the  subject  of  his 
career  as  captain  in  this  company  and  the  discipline 
he  exercised  over  his  men,  that  to  the  first  order 
given  one  of  them  he  received  the  response,  ''  Go  to 
the  devil,  sir !  "  Notwithstanding  the  interchange  of 
many  such  unsoldierlike  civilities  between  the  officer 
and  his  men,  a  strong  bond  of  affection  united  them 
together,  and  if  a  contest  had  arisen  over  the  con- 


86  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

flict  of  orders  between  the  United  States  authorities 
and  those  emanating  from  Captain  Lincoln  or  some 
other  Illinois  officer — as  at  one  time  was  threatened 
— we  need  not  be  told  to  which  side  the  Sanga- 
mon county  company  to  a  man  would  have  gone. 
A  general  order  forbidding  the  discharge  of  fire- 
arms within  fifty  yards  of  the  camp  was  disobeyed 
by  Captain  Lincoln  himself.  For  this  violation  of 
rule  he  was  placed  under  arrest  and  deprived  of  his 
sword  for  a  day.  But  this  and  other  punishments 
in  no  way  humiliated  him  in  the  esteem  of  his 
men  ;  if  anything,  they  only  clung  the  closer,  and 
when  Clary's  Grove  friendship  asserted  itself,  it 
meant  that  firm  and  generous  attachment  found 
alone  on  the  frontier — that  bond,  closer  than  the 
affinity  of  blood,  which  becomes  stronger  as  danger 
approaches  death. 

A  soldier  of  the  Sangamon  county  company 
broke  into  the  officers'  quarters  one  night,  and  with 
the  aid  of  a  tomahawk  and  four  buckets,  obtained 
by  stealth  a  good  supply  of  wines  and  liquors,  which 
he  generously  distributed  to  his  appreciative  com- 
rades. The  next  morning  at  daybreak,  when  the 
army  began  to  move,  the  Sangamon  county  com- 
pany, much  to  their  captain's  astonishment,  were 
unfit  for  the  march.  Their  nocturnal  expedition 
had  been  too  much  for  them,  and  one  by  one  they 
fell  by  the  wayside,  until  but  a  mere  handful  re- 
mained to  keep  step  with  their  gallant  and 
astounded  captain.  Those  who  fell  behind  gradu- 
ally overcame  the  effects  of  their  carousal,  but  were 
hard  pressed  to  overtake  the  command,  and  it  was 


THE  LIFE   OF  LINCOLN^,  8/ 

far  into  the  night  when  the  last  one  straggled  into 
camp.  The  investigation  which  followed  resulted 
only  in  the  captain  suffering  the  punishment  for 
the  more  guilty  men.  For  this  infraction  of  mili- 
tary law  he  was  put  under  arrest  and  made  to  carry 
a  wooden  sword  for  two  days,  ''  and  this  too/'  as 
one  of  his  company  has  since  assured  me,  ^*  although 
he  was  entirely  blameless  in  the  matter." 

Among  the  few  incidents  of  Lincoln's  career  in 
the  Black  Hawk  war  that  have  found  a  place  in  his- 
tory was  his  manly  interference  to  protect  an  old 
Indian  who  strayed,  hungry  and  helpless,  into  camp 
one  day,  and  whom  the  soldiers  were  conspiring  to 
kill  on  the  ground  that  he  was  a  spy.  A  letter 
from  General  Cass,  recommending  him  for  his  past 
kind  and  faithful  services  to  the  whites,  which  the 
trembling  old  savage  drew  from  beneath  the  folds 
of  his  blanket  failed  in  any  degree  to  appease  the 
wrath  of  the  men  who  confronted  him.  They  had 
come  out  to  fight  the  treacherous  Indians,  and  here 
was  one  who  had  the  temerity  even  to  steal  into 
their  camp.  "-  Make  an  example  of  him,"  they  ex- 
claimed. **  The  letter  is  a  forgery  and  he  is  a  spy." 
They  might  have  put  their  threats  into  execution 
had  not  the  tall  form  of  their  captain,  his  face 
**  swarthy  with  resolution  and  rage,"  interposed  itself 
between  them  and  their  defenseless  victim.  Lin- 
coln's determined  look  and  demand  that  ''  it  must 
not  be  done  "  were  enough.  They  sullenly  desisted, 
and  the  Indian,  unmolested,  continued  on  his  way. 

Lincoln's  famous  wrestling  match  with  the  re« 
doubtable  Thompson,  a  soldier  from  Union  county, 


«^  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

who  managed  to  throw  him  twice  in  succession, 
caused  no  diminution  in  the  admiration  and  pride 
his  men  felt  in  their  captain's  muscle  and  prowess. 
They  declared  that  unfair  advantage  had  been 
taken  of  their  champion,  that  Thompson  had 
been  guilty  of  foul  tactics,  and  that,  in  the  language 
of  the  sporting  arena,  it  was  a  ^*  dog-fall/'  Lin- 
coln's magnanimous  action,  however,  in  according 
his  opponent  credit  for  fair  dealing  in  the  face  of 
the  wide-spread  and  adverse  criticism  that  prevailed, 
only  strengthened  him  in  the  esteem  of  all.* 

At  times  the  soldiers  were  hard  pressed  for  food, 
but  by  a  combination  of  ingenuity  and  labor  in  pro- 
portions known  only  to  a  volunteer  soldier,  they 
managed  to  avoid  the  unpleasant  results  of  long- 
continued  and  unsatisfied  hunger,  "  At  an  old 
Winnebago  town  called  Turtle  Village,''  narrates 
a  member  of  the  company,  "  after  stretching  our 
rations  over  nearly  four  days,  one  of  our  mess,  an 
old  acquaintance  of  Lincoln,  G.  B.  Fanchier,  shot  a 
dove,  and  having  a  gill  of  flour  left  we  made  a  gallon 
and  a  half  of  delicious  soup  in  an  old  tin  bucket 
that  had  been  lost  by  Indians.  This  soup  we 
divided  among   several  messes  that  were  hungrier 

*  William  L.  Wilson,  a  survivor  of  the  war,  in  a  letter  under  date 
of  February  3,  1882,  after  detailing  reminiscences  of  Stillman's  de- 
feat, says ;  "  I  have  during  that  time  had  much  fun  with  the  after- 
wards President  of  the  United  States,  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  remem- 
ber one  time  of  wrestling  with  him,  two  best  in  three,  and  ditched 
him.  He  was  not  satisfied,  and  we  tried  it  in  a  foot-race  for  a  five- 
dollar  bill.  I  won  the  money,  and  'tis  spent  long  ago.  And  many 
more  reminiscences  could  I  give,  but  am  of  the  Quaker  persuasion, 
and  not  much  given  to  writirg.'* 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  89 

than  we  were  and  our  own  mess,  by  pouring  in  each 
man's  cup  a  portion  of  the  esculent.  Once  more,  at 
another  time,  in  the  extreme  northern  part  of  Illinois, 
we  had  been  very  hungry  for  two  days,  but  suddenly 
came  upon  a  new  cabin  at  the  edge  of  the  prairie 
that  the  pioneer  sovereign  squatter  family  had  va- 
cated and  'skedaddled'  from  for  fear  of  losing  their 
scalps.  There  were  plenty  of  chickens  about  the 
cabin,  much  hungrier  than  we  ourselves  were,  if  pov- 
erty is  to  test  the  matter,  and  the  boys  heard  a  voice 
saying  *  Slay  and  eat.'  They  at  once  went  to  run- 
ning, clubbing,  and  shooting  them  as  long  as  they 
could  be  found.  Whilst  the  killing  was  going  on  I 
climbed  to  the  ridge-pole  of  the  smoke-house  to  see 
distinctly  what  I  saw  obscurely  from  the  ground- 
and  behold!  the  cleanest,  sweetest  jole  I  ever  saw — 
alone,  half  hid  by  boards  and  ridge-pole,  stuck  up 
no  doubt  for  future  usee  By  this  time  many  of  the 
chickens  were  on  the  fire,  broiling,  for  want  of  grease 
or  gravy  to  fry  them  in.  Some  practical  fellow 
proposed  to  throw  in  with  the  fowls  enough  bacon 
to  convert  broiling  into  frying ;  the  proposition  was 
adopted,  and  they  were  soon  fried.  We  began  to 
eat  the  tough,  dry  chickens  with  alternating  mouth- 
fuls  of  the  jole,  when  Lincoln  came  to  the  repast 
with  the  query,  *  Eating  chicken,  boys  ? '  *  Not 
much,  sir,'  I  responded,  for  we  had  operated  princi« 
pally  on  the  jole,  it  being  sweeter  and  more  palatable 
than  the  chickens.  *  It  is  much  like  eating  saddle- 
bags,'  he  responded  ;  *  but  I  think  the  stomach  can 
accomplish  much  to-day ;  but  what  have  you  got 
there  with  the  skeletons,  George  ?  '     '  We  did  have 


90 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


a  sweet  jole  of  a  hog,  sir/  I  answered,  *  but  you  are 
nearly  too  late  for  your  share,'  at  the  same  time 
making  room  for  him  to  approach  the  elm-bark 
dish.  He  ate  the  bacon  a  moment,  then  com- 
menced  dividing  by  mouthfuls  to  the  boys  from 
other  messes,  who  came  to  '  see  what  Abe  was  at,' 
and  saying  many  quaint  and  funny  things  suited  to 
the  time  and  the  jole/'  The  captain,  it  will  be  seen, 
by  his  **  freedom  without  familiarity  *'  and  his 
**  courtesy  without  condescension,"  was  fast  making 
inroads  on  the  respect  of  his  rude  but  appreciative 
men.  He  was  doubtless  looking  a  long  way  ahead, 
when  both  their  friendship  and  respect  would  be  of 
avail,  for  as  the  chronicler  last  quoted  from  con- 
tinues :  ^^  He  was  acquainted  with  everybody,  and 
he  had  determined,  as  he  told  me,  to  become  a  can- 
didate for  the  next  Legislature.  The  mess  imme- 
diately pitched  on  him  as  our  standard-bearer,  and 
he  accepted." 

The  term  for  which  the  volunteers  had  enlisted 
had  now  expired,  and  the  majority,  tiring  of  the  ser- 
vice, the  novelty  of  which  had  worn  off,  and  longing 
for  the  comforts  and  good  cheer  of  their  homes, 
refused  either  to  re-enlist  or  render  further  service. 
They  turned  their  faces  homeward,  each  with  his 
appetite  for  military  glory  well  satiated.  But  the 
war  was  not  over,  and  the  mighty  Black  Hawk  was 
still  east  of  the  Mississippi.  A  few  remained  and 
re-enlisted.  Among  them  was  Lincoln.  This  time, 
eschewing  the  responsibility  of  a  captaincy,  and  to 
avoid  the  possible  embarrassment  of  dragging  about 
camp  a  wooden  sword,  he  entered  the  company  of 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  9 1 

Elijah  lies  as  a  dignified  private.  It  has  pleased 
some  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  biographers  to  attribute  this 
re-enlistment  to  pure  patriotism  on  his  part  and 
a  conscientious  desire  to  serve  his  country.  From 
the  standpoint  of  sentiment  that  is  a  comfortable 
view  to  take  of  it ;  but  I  have  strong  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  Mr.  Lincoln  never  entertained  such  serious 
notions  of  the  campaign.  In  fact,  I  may  say  that 
my  information  comes  from  the  best  authority  to  be 
had  in  the  matter — the  soldier  himself.  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  no  home  ;  he  had  cut  loose  from  his 
parents,  from  the  Hankses  and  the  Johnstons ;  he 
left  behind  him  no  anxious  wife  and  children  ;  and 
no  chair  before  a  warm  fireside  remained  vacant  for 
him.  ^^  I  was  out  of  work,'*  he  said  to  me  once, 
**  and  there  being  no  danger  of  more  fighting,  I 
could  do  nothing  better  than  enlist  again.'' 

After  his  discharge  from  this  last  and  brief  period 
of  service,  along  with  the  remainder  of  the  Sanga- 
mon county  soldiers,  he  departed  from  the  scenes 
of  recent  hostilities  for  New  Salem  again.  His 
soldier  days  had  ended,  and  he  returned  now  to 
enter  upon  a  far  different  career.  However  much 
in  later  years  he  may  have  pretended  to  ridicule 
the  disasters  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  or  the  part  he 
took  in  it,  yet  I  believe  he  was  rather  proud  of  it 
after  all.  When  Congress,  along  in  the  fifties, 
granted  him  a  land  warrant  he  was  greatly  pleased. 
He  located  it  on  some  land  in  Iowa,  and  declared 
to  me  one  day  that  he  would  die  seized  of  that 
land,    and    although    the   tract  never   yielded   him 


92 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


anything  he  never,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends 
parted  with  its  ownership."^ 

The  return  of  the  Black  Hawk  warriors  to  New 
Salem  occurred  in  the  month  of  August,  but  a  short 
time  before  the  general  election.  A  new  Legislature 
was  to  be  chosen,  and  as  Lincoln  had  declared  to 
his  comrades  in  the  army  he  would,  and  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  effusive  declaration  of  principles  which 
he  had  issued  over  his  signature  in  March,  before 
he  went  to  the  war,  he  presented  himself  to  the 
people  of  his  newly  adopted  county  as  a  candidate 
for  the  Legislature.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enter 
into  an  account  of  the  political  conditions  in  Illinois 
at  that  time,  or  the  effect  had  on  the  same  by  those 

*  "  In  regard  to  the  Bounty  Land  Warrants  issued  to  Abraham 
Lincoln  for  military  services  during  the  Black  Hawk  war  as  Captain 
of  4th  Illinois  Volunteers,  the  first  warrant,  No.  52,076,  for  forty 
acres  (Act  of  1850),  was  issued  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  Captain,  etc. 
on  the  1 6th  of  April,  1852,  and  was  located  in  his  name  by  his  duly 
appointed  attorney,  John  P.  Davis,  at  Dubuque,  Iowa,  July  21,  1854, 
on  the  north-west  quarter  of  the  south-west  quarter  of  section  20,  in 
Township  84,  north  of  Range  39,  west,  Iowa.  A  patent  as  recorded 
in  volume  280,  page  21,  was  issued  for  this  tract  to  Abraham  Lin^ 
coin  on  the  ist  of  June,  1855,  and  transmitted  the  26th  October,  1855, 
to  the  Register  of  delivery. 

"  Under  the  Act  of  1855,  another  Land  Warrant,  No.  68,465,  for 
120  acres,  was  issued  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  Captain  Illinois  Militia^ 
Black  Hawk  war,  on  the  22d  April,  1856,  and  was  located  by  himself 
at  Springfield,  Illinois,  December  27,1859,  on  the  east  half  of  the 
north-east  quarter  and  the  north-west  quarter  of  the  north-east 
quarter  of  section  18,  in  Township  84,  north  of  Range  39,  west;  for 
which  a  patent,  as  recorded  in  volume  468,  page  53,  was  issued 
September  10,  i860,  and  sent  October  30,  i860,  to  the  Register 
for  delivery.'* — Letter  Jos.  S.  Wilson  Acting  Commissioner  Land 
Office,  June  27,  1865. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN',  93 

who  had  in  charge  the  governmental  machinefy. 
Lincoln's  course  is  all  that  interests  us.  Though 
he  may  not  have  distinctly  avowed  himself  a  Whig, 
yet,  as  one  of  his  friends  asserted,  ^'  he  stood 
openly  on  Whig  principles/'  He  favored  a  national 
bank,  a  liberal  system  of  internal  improvements, 
and  a  high  protective  tariff.  The  handbill  or  cir- 
cular alluded  to  announcing  his  candidacy  was  a 
sort  of  literary  fulmination,  but  on  account  of  its 
length  I  deem  it  unnecessary  to  insert  the  whole  of 
it  here.  I  have  been  told  that  it  was  prepared  by 
Lincoln,  but  purged  of  its  most  glaring  grammat- 
ical errors  by  James  McNamar,  who  afterwards 
became  Lincoln's  rival  in  an  important  love 
affair."^ 

The  circular  is  dated  March  9,  1832,  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  *^  People  of  Sangamon  County."  In 
it  he  takes  up  all  the  leading  questions  of  the  day : 
railroads,  river  navigation,  internal  improvements, 
and  usury.  He  dwells  particularly  on  the  matter 
of  public  education,  alluding  to  it  as  the  most  im- 
portant subject  before  the  people.  Realizing  his  own 
defects  arising  from  a  lack  of  school  instruction  he 
contends  that  every  man  and  his  children,  however 
poor,  should  be  permitted  to  obtain  at  least  a  mod- 
erate education,  and  thereby  be  enabled  "  to  read 
the  Scriptures  and  other  works  both  of  a  moral  and 
religious  nature  for  themselves."     The  closing  par- 

*  In  a  letter  dated  May  5,  1866,  McNamar  says  : 

"  I  corrected  at  his  request  some  of  the  grammatical  errors  in  his 
first  address  to  the  voters  of  Sangamon  county,  his  principal  hobby 
being  the  navigation  of  the  Sangamon  river.'^ 


94  1^^^  LTFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

agraph  was  so  constructed  as  to  appeal  to  the  chiv- 
alrous sentiments  of  Clary's  Grove.  ''  I  was  born 
and  have  ever  remained/'  he  declares,  *'  in  the  most 
humble  walks  of  life.  I  have  no  wealthy  or  popu- 
lar relatives  or  friends  to  recommend  me.  My  case 
is  thrown  exclusively  upon  the  independent  voters 
of  the  county ;  and  if  elected  they  will  have  con- 
ferred a  favor  upon  me  for  which  I  shall  be  unre- 
mitting in  my  labors  to  compensate.  But  if,"  he 
dryly  concludes,  '*  the  good  people  in  their  wisdom 
shall  see  fit  to  keep  me  in  the  background,  I  have 
been  too  familiar  with  disappointments  to  be  very 
much  chagrined.'' 

The  election  being  near  at  hand  only  a  few  days 
remained  for  his  canvass.  One  ^  who  was  with  him 
at  the  time  describing  his  appearance,  says  :  *^  He 
wore  a  mixed  jeans  coat,  clawhammer  style,  short 
in  the  sleeves  and  bobtail — in  fact  it  was  so  short 
in  the  tail  he  could  not  sit  on  it;  flax  and  tow- 
linen  pantaloons,  and  a  straw  hat.  I  think  he  wore 
a  vest,  but  do  not  remember  how  it  looked.  He 
wore  pot-metal  boots."  His  maiden  effort  on  the 
stump  was  a  speech  on  the  occasion  of  a  public 
sale  at  Pappsville,  a  village  eleven  miles  west  of 
Springfield.  After  the  sale  was  over  and  speech- 
making  had  begun,  a  fight — a  *' general  fight,"  as 
one  of  the  bystanders  relates — ensued,  and  Lincoln, 
noticing  one  of  his  friends  about  to  succumb  to 
the  energetic  attack  of  an  infuriated  ruffian,  inter- 
posed to  prevent  it.     He  did   so  most   effectually. 

*  A.  Y.  Ellis,  letter,  June  5,  1866,  MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  95 

Hastily  descending  from  the  rude  platform  he 
edged  his  way  through  the  crowd,  and  seizing  the 
bully  by  the  neck  and  seat  of  his  trowsers,  threw 
him  by  means  of  his  strength  and  long  arms,  as  one 
witness  stoutly  insists,  **  twelve  feet  away/*  Re- 
turning to  the  stand  and  throwing  aside  his  hat  he 
inaugurated  his  campaign  with  the  following  brief 
but  juicy  declaration  : 

**  Fellow  Citizens,  I  presume  you  all  know  who  I 
am.  I  am  humble  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  have  been 
solicited  by  many  friends  to  become  a  candidate  for 
the  Legislature.  My  politics  are  short  and  sweet, 
like  the  old  woman's  dance.  I  am  in  favor  of  a 
national  bank.  I  am  in  favor  of  the  internal  im- 
provement system  and  a  high  protective  tariff. 
These  are  my  sentiments  and  political  principles. 
If  elected  I  shall  be  thankful ;  if  not  it  will  be  all 
the  same.'' 

I  obtained  this  speech  from  A.  Y.  Ellis,  who  in 
1865  wrote  it  out.  Ellis  was  his  friend  and  sup- 
porter, and  took  no  little  interest  in  his  canvass. 
**  I  accompanied  him,"  he  relates,  ^*  on  one  of  his 
electioneering  trips  to  Island  Grove,  and  he  made 
a  speech  which  pleased  his  party  friends  very  well 
indeed,  though  some  of  the  Jackson  men  tried  to 
make  sport  of  it.  He  told  several  anecdotes,  and 
applied  them,  as  I  thought,  very  well.  He  also  told 
the  boys  several  stories  which  drew  them  after  him. 
I  remember  them,  but  modesty  and  my  veneration 
for  his  memory  forbid  me  to  relate  them."  His 
story-telling  propensity,  and  the  striking  fitness  of 
his    yarns — many  of  them  being  of    the    bar-room 


90'  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

order — in  illustrating  public  questions,  as  we  shall 
see  further  along  in  these  chapters,  was  really  one 
of  the  secrets  of  his  popularity  and  strength. 
The  election,  as  he  had  predicted,  resulted  in  his 
defeat — the  only  defeat,  as  he  himself  afterward 
stated,  that  he  ever  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
people.  But  there  was  little  defeat  in  it  after  all. 
Out  of  the  eight  unsuccessful  candidates  he  stood 
third  from  the  head  of  the  list,  receiving  657  votes. 
Five  others  received  less.  The  most  gratifying 
feature  of  it  all  was  the  hearty  support  of  his 
neighbors  at  New  Salem.  Of  the  entire  208  votes 
in  the  precinct  he  received  every  one  save  three. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  explain  the  cause  of  this 
remarkable  endorsement  of  Lincoln  by  the  voters 
in  New  Salem.  It  arose  chiefly  from  his  advocacy 
of  the  improvement  of  the  Sangamon  river.  He 
proposed  the  digging  of  a  canal  a  few  miles  east  of 
the  point  where  the  Sangamon  enters  the  Illinois 
river,  thereby  giving  the  former  two  mouths. 
This,  he  explained  to  the  farmers,  would  prevent 
the  accumulation  of  back-water  and  consequent 
overflow  of  their  rich  alluvial  bottom  lands  in  the 
spring.  It  would  also  avert  the  sickness  and  evil 
results  of  stagnant  pools,  which  formed  in  low 
places  after  the  high  waters  receded.  His  scheme 
— that  is  the  name  by  which  it  would  be  known 
to-day — commended  itself  to  the  judgment  of  his 
neighbors,  and  the  flattering  vote  he  received  shows 
how  they  endorsed  it. 

The  unsuccessful  result  of  the  election  did  not 
dampen  his  hopes  nor  sour  his  ambition.     The  ex* 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


97 


tensive  acquaintance,  the  practice  in  public  speak- 
ing, the  confidence  gained  with  the  people,  to- 
gether with  what  was  augmented  in  himself,  made  a 
surplus  of  capital  on  which  he  was  free  to  draw  and 
of  which  he  afterwards  frequently  availed  himself. 
The  election  being  over,  however,  he  found  himself 
without  money,  though  with  a  goodly  supply  of 
experience,  drifting  again.  His  political  experience 
had  forever  weaned  him  from  the  dull  routine  of 
common  labor.  Labor  afforded  him  no  time  for 
study  and  no  incentive  to  profitable  reflection. 
What  he  seemed  to  want  was  some  lighter  work, 
employment  in  a  store  or  tavern  where  he  could  meet 
the  village  celebrities,  exchange  views  with  strangers, 
discuss  politics,  horse-races,  cock-fights,  and  narrate 
to  listening  loafers  his  striking  and  significant 
stories.  In  the  communities  where  he  had  lived, 
the  village  store-keeper  held  undisturbed  sway. 
He  took  the  only  newspapers,  owned  the  only  col- 
lection  of  books  and  half  the  property  in  the  vil- 
lage ;  and  in  general  was  the  social,  and  oftentimes 
the  political  head  of  the  community.  Naturally, 
therefore  the  prominence  the  store  gave  the  mer- 
chant attracted  Lincoln.  But  there  seemed  no 
favorable  opening  for  him — clerks  in  New  Salem 
were  not  in  demand  just  then. 

My  cousins.  Rowan  and  James  Herndon,  were  at 
that  time  operating  a  store,  and  tiring  of  their 
investment  and  the  confinement  it  necessitated, 
James  sold  his  interest  to  an  idle,  shiftless  fellow 
named  William  Berry.  Soon  after  Rowan  disposed 
of  his  to  Lincoln.     That  the   latter,  who   was  with- 


98  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

out  means  and  in  search  of  work,  could  succeed  to 
the  ownership  of  even  a  half  interest  in  a  concern 
where  but  a  few  days  before  he  would  in  all  proba- 
bility gladly  have  exchanged  his  services  for  his 
board,  doubtless  seems  strange  to  the  average 
young  business  man  of  to-day.  I  once  asked 
Rowan  Herndon  what  induced  him  to  make  such 
liberal  terms  in  dealing  with  Lincoln,  whom  he  had 
known  for  so  short  a  time. 

"'  I  believed  he  was  thoroughly  honest,'*  was  the 
reply,  **and  that  impression  was  so  strong  in  me  I 
accepted  his  note  in  payment  of  the  whole.  He 
had  no  money,  but  I  would  have  advanced  him 
still  more  had  he  asked  for  it.'' 

Lincoln  and  Berry  had  been  installed  in  business 
but  a  short  time  until  one  Reuben  Radford,  the  pro- 
prietor of  another  New  Salem  grocery,  who,  happen- 
ing to  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  Clary's  Grove 
boys,  decided  suddenly  one  morning,  in  the  commer- 
cial language  of  later  days,  to  '^  retire  from  busi- 
ness." A  visit  by  night  of  the  Clary's  Grove  con- 
tingent always  hastened  any  man's  retirement  from 
business.  The  windows  were  driven  in,  and  posses- 
sion taken  of  the  stock  without  either  ceremony  or 
inventory.  If,  by  break  of  day,  the  unfortunate 
proprietor  found  any  portion  of  his  establishment 
standing  where  he  left  it  the  night  before,  he  might 
count  himself  lucky.  In  Radford's  case,  fearing 
"  his  bones  might  share  the  fate  of  his  windows," 
he  disposed  of  his  stock  and  good-will  to  William 
Greene  for  a  consideration  of  four  hundred  dollars. 
The  latter  employed  Lincoln  to  make  an  inventory 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  99 

of  the  goods,  and  when  completed,  the  new  mer- 
chant, seeing  in  it  something  of  a  speculation,  offered 
Greene  an  advance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
on  his  investment.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  the 
stock  and  fixtures  passed  into  the  ownership  and 
control  of  the  now  enterprising  firm  of  Lincoln  & 
Berry.  They  subsequently  absorbed  the  remnant 
of  a  store  belonging  to  one  Rutledge,  which  last 
transaction  cleared  the  field  of  all  competitors  and 
left  them  in  possession  of  the  only  mercantile  con- 
cern in  New  Salem. 

To  effect  these  sales  not  a  cent  of  money  was 
required — the  buyer  giving  the  seller  his  note  and 
the  latter  assigning  it  to  someone  else  in  another 
trade.  Berry  gave  his.  note  to  James  Herndon, 
Lincoln  his  to  Rowan  Herndon,  while  Lincoln  & 
Berry  as  a  firm,  executed  their  obligation  to  Greene, 
Radford,  and  Rutledge  in  succession.  Surely  Wall 
Street  at  no  time  in  its  history  has  furnished  a  brace 
of  speculators  who  in  so  brief  a  period  accomplished 
so  much  and  with  so  little  money.  A  few  weeks 
only  were  sufficient  to  render  apparent  Lincoln's  ill 
adaptation  to  the  requirements  of  a  successful  bus^ 
iness  career.  Once  installed  behind  the  counter 
he  gave  himself  up  to  reading  and  study,  de- 
pending for  the  practical  management  of  the  bus- 
iness on  his  partner.  A  more  unfortunate  selec- 
tion than  Berry  could  not  have  been  found  ;  for, 
while  Lincoln  at  one  end  of  the  store  was  dis^ 
pensing  political  information,  Berry  at  the  other  was 
disposing  of  the  firm's  liquors,  being  the  best  cus. 
tomer  for  that  article  of  merchandise  himself.     T(? 


lOO  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

put  it  more  plainly,  Lincoln's  application  to  Shake- 
speare and  Burns  was  only  equalled  by  Berry's  atten- 
tion to  spigot  and  barrel.  That  the  latter  in  the 
end  succeeded  in  squandering  a  good  portion  of 
their  joint  assets,  besides  wrecking  his  own  health,  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at.  By  the  spring  of  1833  they, 
like  their  predecessors,  were  ready  to  retire.  Two 
brothers  named  Trent  coming  along,  they  sold  to 
them  on  the  liberal  terms  then  prevalent  the  busi- 
ness and  good-will  ;  but  before  the  latter's  notes 
fell  due,  they  in  turn  had  failed  and  fled.  The 
death  of  Berry  following  soon  after,  released  him 
from  the  payment  of  any  notes  or  debts,  and  thus 
Lincoln  was  left  to  meet  the  unhonored  obligations 
of  the  ill-fated  partnership,  or  avoid  their  payment 
by  dividing  the  responsibility  and  pleading  the  fail- 
ure of  the  business.  That  he  assumed  all  the  lia- 
bility and  set  resolutely  to  work  to  pay  everything, 
was  strictly  in  keeping  with  his  fine  sense  of  honor 
and  justice.  He  was  a  long  time  meeting  these 
claims,  even  as  late  as  1848  sending  to  me  from 
Washington  portions  of  his  salary  as  Congressman 
to  be  applied  on  the  unpaid  remnant  of  the  Berry 
&  Lincoln  indebtedness — but  in  time  he  extin- 
guished it  all,  even  to  the  last  penny. 

Conscious  of  his  many  shortcomings  as  a  mer- 
chant, and  undaunted  by  the  unfortunate  complica- 
tions from  which  he  had  just  been  released,  Lincoln 
returned  to  his  books.  Rowan  Herndon,  with 
whom  he  had  been  living,  having  removed  to  the 
country,  he  became  for  the  first  time  a  sojourner  at 
the  tavern,  as  it  was  then  called — a  public-house  kept 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  lOI 

b^  Rutledge,  Onstatt,  and  Alley  in  succession.  **It 
was  a  small  log  house/*  he  explained  to  me  in  later 
years,  ''  covered  with  clapboards,  and  contained 
four  rooms.'*  It  was  second  only  in  importance  to 
the  store,  for  there  he  had  the  opportunity  of  meet- 
ing passing  strangers — lawyers  and  others  from  the 
county  seat,  whom  he  frequently  impressed  with 
his  knowledge  as  well  as  wit.  He  had,  doubtless, 
long  before  determined  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
law  ;  in  fact,  had  begun  to  read  Blackstone  while  in 
the  store,  and  now  went  at  it  with  renewed  zeal.  He 
borrowed  law-books  of  his  former  comrade  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  John  T.  Stuart,  who  was  practic- 
ing law  in  Springfield,  frequently  walking  there  to 
return  one  and  borrow  another.  His  determination 
to  master  any  subject  he  undertook  and  his  appli- 
cation to  study  were  of  the  most  intense  order.  On 
the  road  to  and  from  Springfield  he  would  read  and 
recite  from  the  book  he  carried  open  in  his  hand, 
and  claimed  to  have  mastered  forty  pages  of 
Blackstone  during  the  first  day  after  his  return  from 
Stuart's  office.  At  New  Salem  he  frequently  sat 
barefooted  under  the  shade  of  a  tree  near  the 
store,  poring  over  a  volume  of  Chitty  or  Blackstone, 
sometimes  lying  on  his  back,  putting  his  feet  up  the 
tree,  which  provokes  one  of  his  biographers  to  de- 
note the  latter  posture  as  one  which  might  have  been 
"  unfavorable  to  mental  application,  in  the  case  of  a 
man  with  shorter  extremities." 

That  Lincoln's  attempt  to  make  a  lawyer^of  himself 
under  such  adverse  and  unpromising  circumstances 
excited  comment  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.     Russell 


I02  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN-, 

Godby,  an  old  man  who  still  survives,  told  me  in 
1865,  that  he  had  often  employed  Lincoln  to  do 
farm  work  for  him,  and  was  surprised  to  find  him 
one  day  sitting  barefoot  on  the  summit  of  a  wood- 
pile and  attentively  reading  a  book.  ''  This  being 
an  unusual  thing  for  farm  hands  in  that  early  day 
to  do,  I  asked  him,''  relates  Godby,  ''  what  he  was 
reading/'  *  I'm  not  reading,'  he  answered.  'I'm 
studying.'  *  Studying  what  ? '  I  enquired.  *  Law, 
sir,'  was  the  emphatic  response.  It  was  really  too 
much  for  me,  as  I  looked  at  him  sitting  there  proud 
as  Cicero.  '  Great  God  Almighty ! '  I  exclaimed, 
and  passed  on." 

But  Lincoln  kept  on  at  his  studies.  Wherever  he 
was  and  whenever  he  could  do  so  the  book  was 
brought  into  use.  He  carried  it  with  him  in  his 
rambles  through  the  woods  and  his  walks  to  the 
river.  When  night  came  he  read  it  by  the  aid 
of  any  friendly  light  he  could  find.  Frequently 
he  went  down  to  the  cooper's  shop  and  kindled  a 
fire  out  of  the  waste  material  lying  about,  and  by 
the  light  it  afforded  read  until  far  into  the  night. 

One  of  his  companions  at  this  time  relates  that, 
^*  while  clerking  in  the  store  or  serving  as  post- 
master he  would  apply  himself  as  opportunity  offered 
to  his  studies,  if  it  was  but  five  minutes  time — 
would  open  his  book  which  he  always  kept  at  hand, 
study  it,  reciting  to  himself ;  then  entertain  the  com- 
pany present  or  wait  on  a  customer  without  ap- 
parent annoyance  from  the  interruption.  Have 
frequently  seen  him  reading  while  walking  along  the 
streets.      Occasionally  he  would  become  absorbed 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  IO3 

With  his  book ;  would  stop  and  stand  for  a  few 
moments,  then  walk  on,  or  pass  from  one  house  to 
another  or  from  one  crowd  or  squad  of  men  to  an- 
other. He  was  apparently  seeking  amusement,  and 
with  his  thoughtful  face  and  ill-fitting  clothes  was 
the  last  man  one  would  have  singled  out  for  a 
student.  If  the  company  he  was  in  was  unappre- 
ciative,  or  their  conversation  at  all  irksome,  he 
wduld  open  his  book  and  commune  with  it  for  a 
time,  until  a  happy  thought  suggested  itself  and 
then  the  book  would  again  return  to  its  wonted 
resting-place  under  his  arm.  He  never  appeared 
to  be  a  hard  student,  as  he  seemed  to  master  his 
studies  with  little  effort,  until  he  commenced  the 
study  of  the  law.  In  that  he  became  wholly  em 
grossed,  and  began  for  the  first  time  to  avoid  the 
society  of  men,  in  order  that  he  might  have  more 
time  for  study.  He  was  not  what  is  usually  termed 
a  quick-minded  man,  although  he  would  usually 
arrive  at  his  conclusions  very  readily.  He  seemed 
invariably  to  reflect  and  deliberate,  and  never  acted 
from  impulse  so  far  as  to  force  a  wrong  conclusion 
on  a  subject  of  any  moment.**  ^ 

It  was  not  long  until  he  was  able  to  draw  up 
deeds,  contracts,  mortgages,  and  other  legal  papers 
for  his  neighbors.  He  figured  conspicuously  as  a 
pettifogger  before  the  justice  of  the  peace,  but  re- 
garding it  merely  as  a  kind  of  preliminary  practice, 
seldom  made  any  charge  for  his  services.  Mean- 
while he  was  reading  not  only  law  books  but  natural 

*  R.  B.  Rutledge,  letter,  Nov.  30.  1866,  MS. 


I04  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLAT. 

philosophy  and  other  scientific  subjects.  He  was  a 
careful  and  patient  reader  of  newspapers,  the  San- 
gamon Journal — published  at  Springfield — Louis- 
ville Jo2irnal,  St,  Louis  Republican,  and  Cincinnati 
Gazette  being  usually  within  his  reach.  He  paid  a 
less  degree  of  attention  to  historical  works,  although 
he  read  Rollin  and  Gibbon  while  in  business  with 
Berry.  He  had  a  more  pronounced  fondness  for 
fictitious  literature,  and  read  with  evident  relish 
Mrs.  Lee  Hentz's  novels,  which  were  very  popular 
books  in  that  day,  and  which  were  kindly  loaned 
him  by  his  friend  A.  Y.  Ellis.  The  latter  was  a 
prosperous  and  shrewd  young  merchant  who 
.  had  come  up  from  Springfield  and  taken  quite  a 
fancy  to  Lincoln.  The  two  slept  together  and 
Lincoln  frequently  assisted  him  in  the  store.  He 
says  that  Lincoln  was  fond  of  short,  spicy  stories 
one  and  two  columns  long,  and  cites  as  specimens, 
^^  Cousin  Sally  Dillard,"  ^^  Becky  William's  Court- 
ship,''  ^*  The  Down-Easter  and  the  Bull,"  and 
others,  the  very  titles  suggesting  the  character  of  the 
productions.  He  remembered  everything  he  read, 
and  could  afterwards  without  apparent  difficulty 
relate  it.  In  fact,  Mr.  Lincoln's  fame  as  a  story- 
teller spread  far  and  wide.  Men  quoted  his  sayings, 
repeated  his  jokes,  and  in  remote  places  he  was 
known  as  a  story-teller  before  he  was  heard  of  either 
as  lawyer  or  politician. 

It  has  been  denied  as  often  as  charged  that  Lin- 
coln narrated  vulgar  stories  ;  but  the  truth  is  he 
loved  a  story  however  extravagant  or  vulgar,  if  it  had 
a  good  point.     If  it  was  merely  a  ribald  recital  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  IO5 

had  no  sting  in  the  end,  that  is,  if  it  exposed  no 
weakness  or  pointed  no  moral,  he  had  no  use  for  it 
either  in  conversation  or  public  speech  ;  but  if  it 
had  the  necessary  ingredients  of  mirth  and  moral 
no  one  could  use  it  with  more  telling  effect.  As 
a  mimic  he  was  unequalled,  and  with  his  character- 
istic gestures,  he  built  up  a  reputation  for  story-tell- 
ing— although  fully  as  many  of  his  narratives  were 
borrowed  as  original — which  followed  him  through 
life.  One  who  listened  to  his  early  stories  in  New 
Salem  says  :  '^  His  laugh  was  striking.  Such  awk- 
ward gestures  belonged  to  no  other  man.  They 
attracted  universal  attention,  from  the  old  sedate 
down  to  the  schoolboy.  Then  in  a  few  moments 
he  was  as  calm  and  thoughtful  as  a  judge  on  the 
bench,  and  as  ready  to  give  advice  on  the  most 
important  matters  ;  fun  and  gravity  grew  on  him 
alike." 

Lincoln's  lack  of  musical  adaptation  has  deprived 
us  of  many  a  song.  For  a  ballad  or  doggerel  he 
sometimes  had  quite  a  liking.  He  could  memorize 
or  recite  the  lines  but  some  one  else  had  to  do  the 
singing.  Listen  to  one  in  which  he  shows  ''How 
St.  Patrick  Came  to  be  Born  on  the  ijth  of  March.'* 
Who  composed  it  or  where  Lincoln  obtained  it  I 
have  never  been  able  to  learn.  Ellis  says  he  often 
inflicted  it  on  the  crowds  who  collected  in  his  store 
of  winter  evenings.     Here  it  is  : 

**  The  first  factional  fight  in  old  Ireland,  they  say, 
Was  all  on  account  of  Saint  Patrick's  birthday, 
It  was  somewhere  about  midnight  without  any  doubt, 
And  certain  it  is,  it  made  a  great  rout. 


I06  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN; 

On  the  eighth  day  of  March,  as  some  people  say, 
St.  Patrick  at  midnight  he  first  saw  the  day; 
While  others  assert  Hwas  the  ninth  he  was  born — 
'Twas  all  a  mistake — between  midnight  and  morn. 

Some  blamed  the  baby,  some  blamed  the  clock ; 
Some  blamed  the  doctor,  some  the  crowing  cock. 
With  all  these  close  questions  sure  no  one  could  know, 
Whether  the  babe  was  too  fast  or  the  clock  was  too  slow. 

Some  fought  for  the  eighth,  for  the  ninth  some  would  die ; 
He  who  wouldn't  see  right  would  have  a  black  eye. 
At  length  these  two  factions  so  positive  grew, 
They  each  had  a  birthday,  and  Pat  he  had  two. 

Till  Father  Mulcahay  who  showed  them  their  sins, 
He  said  none  could  have  two  birthdays  but  as  twins. 
*  Now  Boys,  don't  be  fighting  for  the  eight  or  the  nine 
Don't  quarrel  so  always,  now  why  not  combine.' 

Combine  eight  with  nine.     It  is  the  mark; 

Let  that  be  the  birthday.     Amen  !  said  the  clerk. 

So  all  got  blind  drunk,  which  completed  their  bliss, 

And  they've  kept  up  the  practice  from  that  day  to  this."  * 

As  a  salesman,  Lincoln  was  lamentably  deficient. 
He  was  too  prone  to  lead  off  into  a  discussion  of 
politics  or  morality,  leaving  someone  else  to  finish 
the  trade  which  he  had  undertaken.  One  of  his 
employers  says:  ^*  He  always  disliked  to  wait  on 
the  ladies,  preferring,  he  said,  to  wait  on  the  men 
and  boys.  I  also  remember  he  used  to  sleep  on  the 
store  counter  when  they  had  too  much  company  at 
the  tavern.  He  wore  flax  and  tow  linen  pantaloons 
— I  thought  about  five  inches  too  short  in  the  legs 
— and  frequently  had  but  one  suspender,  no  vest  or 

*  From  MS.,  furnished  by  Ellis  in  August,  1866. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  IO7 

coat.  He  wore  a  calico  shirt,  such  as  he  had  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war  ;  coarse  brogans,  tan  color  ;  blue 
yarn  socks  and  straw  hat,  old  style,  and  without  a 
band."  His  friend  Ellis  attributed  his  shyness  in 
the  presence  of  the  ladies  to  the  consciousness  of 
his  awkward  appearance  and  the  unpretentious  con- 
dition of  his  wearing  apparel.  It  was  more  than 
likely  due  to  pure  bashfulness.  **  On  one  occasion," 
continues  Ellis,  '*  while  we  boarded  at  the  tavern, 
there  came  a  family  consisting  of  an  old  lady,  her 
son,  and  three  stylish  daughters,  from  the  State  of 
Virginia,  who  stopped  there  for  two  or  three  weeks, 
and  during  their  stay  I  do  not  remember  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  ever  appearing  at  the  same  table  with 
them." 

As  a  society  man,  Lincoln  was  singularly  defi- 
cient while  he  lived  in  New  Salem,  and  even  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  never  indulged  in 
gossip  about  the  ladies,  nor  aided  in  the  circulation 
of  village  scandal.  For  woman  he  had  a  high  re- 
gard, and  I  can  testify  that  duringmy  long  acquaint- 
ance  with  him  his  conversation  was  free  from 
injurious  comment  in  individual  cases — freer  from 
unpleasant  allusions  than  that  of  most  men.  At 
one  time  Major  Hill  charged  him  with  making 
defamatory  remarks  regarding  his  wife.  Hill  was 
insulting  in  his  language  to  Lincoln  who  never  lost 
his  temper.  When  he  saw  a  chance  to  edge  a  word 
in,  Lincoln  denied  emphatically  using  the  langauge 
or  anything  like  that  attributed  to  him.  He  enter- 
tained, he  insisted,  a  high  regard  for  Mrs.  Hill,  and 


I08  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

the  only  thing  he  knew  to  her  discredit  was  the  fact 
that  she  was  Major  Hill's  wife. 

At  this  time  in  its  brief  history  New  Salem  was 
what  in  the  parlance  of  large  cities  would  be  called 
a  fast  place  ;  and  it  was  difficult  for  a  young  man  of 
ordinary  moral  courage  to  resist  the  temptations 
that  beset  him  on  every  hand.  It  remains  a  matter 
of  surprise  that  Lincoln  was  able  to  retain  his  pop- 
ularity with  the  hosts  of  young  men  of  his  own  age, 
and  still  not  join  them  in  their  drinking  bouts  and 
carousals.  ^' I  am  certain,"  contends  one  of  his 
companions,  **  that  he  never  drank  any  intoxicating 
liquors — he  did  not  even  in  those  days  smoke  or 
chew  tobacco.''  In  sports  requiring  either  muscle 
or  skill  he  took  no  little  interest.  He  indulged  in 
all  the  games  of  the  day,  even  to  a  horse-race  or 
cock-fight.  At  one  eventful  chicken  fight,  where  a 
fee  of  twenty-five  cents  for  the  entrance  of  each 
fowl  was  assessed,  one  Bap.  McNabb  brought  a 
little  red  rooster,  whose  fighting  qualities  had  been 
well  advertised  for  days  in  advance  by  his  owner. 
Much  interest  was  naturally  taken  in  the  contest. 
As  the  outcome  of  these  contests  was  generally  a 
quarrel,  in  which  each  man,  charging  foul  play, 
seized  his  victim,  they  chose  Lincoln  umpire,  rely- 
ing not  only  on  his  fairness  but  his  ability  to  en- 
force his  decisions.  In  relating  what  followed  I 
cannot  improve  on  the  description  furnished  me  in 
February,  1865,  by  one^  who  was  present. 

''  They  formed  a  ring,  and  the  time  having  arrived, 

*  A.  Y.  Ellis,  MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  IO9 

Lincoln,  with  one  hand  on  each  hip  and  in  a  squat- 
ting position,  cried,  '  Ready.'  Into  the  ring  they 
toss  their  fowls,  Bap's  red  rooster  along  with  the 
rest.  But  no  sooner  had  the  little  beauty  discov- 
ered what  was  to  be  done  than  he  dropped  his  tail 
and  ran.  The  crowd  cheered,  while  Bap.  in  disap- 
pointment picked  him  up  and  started  away,  losing 
his  quarter  and  carrying  home  his  dishonored  fowl. 
Once  arrived  at  the  latter  place  he  threw  his  pet 
down  with  a  feeling  of  indignation  and  chagrin. 
The  little  fellow,  out  of  sight  of  all  rivals,  mounted 
a  wood  pile  and  proudly  flirting  out  his  feathers, 
crowed  with  all  his  might.  Bap.  looked  on  in  dis- 
gust. *  Yes,  you  little  cuss,'  he  exclaimed,  irrever- 
ently, *  you're  great  on  dress  parade,  but  not  worth  a 
d — n  in  a  fight.'  "  It  is  said — how  truthfully  I  do 
not  know — that  at  some  period  during  the  late  war 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  conversation  with  a  friend  likened 
McClellan  to  Bap.  McNabb's  rooster.  So  much 
for  New  Salem  sports. 

While  wooing  that  jealous-eyed  mistress,  the 
law,  Lincoln  was  earning  no  money.  As  another 
has  said,  **  he  had  a  running  board  bill  to  pay,  and 
nothing  to  pay  it  with."  By  dint  of  sundry  jobs 
here  and  there,  helping  Ellis  in  his  store  to-day, 
splitting  rails  for  James  Short  to-morrow,  he  man- 
aged to  keep  his  head  above  the  waves.  His 
friends  were  firm — no  young  man  ever  had  truer  or 
better  ones — but  he  was  of  too  independent  a  turn 
to  appeal  to  them  or  complain  of  his  condition. 
He  never  at  any  time  abandoned  the  icjea  of  be- 
coming a  lawyer.     That  was   always  a  spirit  which 


I  lO  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

beckoned  him  on  in  the  darkest  hour  of  his  adver- 
sity. Someone,  probably  a  Democrat  who  voted 
for  him  in  the  preceding  fall,  recommended  him 
to  John  Calhoun,  then  surveyor  of  the  county,  as 
suitable  material  for  an  assistant.  This  office,  in  view 
of  the  prevailing  speculation  in  lands  and  town  lots, 
was  the  most  important  and  possibly  the  most  profi- 
table in  the  county.  Calhoun,  the  incumbent,  was 
a  Yankee  and  a  typical  gentleman.  He  was  brave, 
intellectual,  self-possessed,  and  cultivated.  He  had 
been  educated  for  the  law,  but  never  practiced 
much  after  coming  to  Illinois — taught  school  in 
preference.  As  an  instructor  he  was  the  popular 
one  of  his  day  and  age.  I  attended  the  school  he 
taught  when  I  was  a  boy,  in  Springfield,  and  was  in 
later  years  clerk  of  the  city  under  his  administra- 
tion as  Mayor.  Lincoln,  I  know,  respected  and  ad- 
mired him.  After  Lincoln's  removal  to  Springfield 
they  frequently  held  joint  debates  on  political  ques- 
tions. At  one  time  I  remember  they  discussed  the 
tariff  question  in  the  court  house,  using  up  the 
better  part  of  two  evenings  in  the  contest.  Cal- 
houn was  polite,  affable,  and  an  honest  debater, 
never  dodging  any  question.  This  made  him  a 
formidable  antagonist  in  argumentative  controversy. 
I  have  heard  Lincoln  say  that  Calhoun  gave  him 
more  trouble  in  his  debates  than  Douglas  ever  did, 
because  he  was  more  captivating  in  his  manner  and 
a  more  learned  man  than  Douglas. 

But  to  resume.  The  recommendation  of  Lin- 
coln's friends  was  sufficient  to  induce  Calhoun  to 
appoint  him  one  of  his  deputies.     At  the  time  he 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 1 1 

received  notice  of  his  selection  by  Calhoun,  Lincoln 
was  out  in  the  woods  near  New  Salem  splitting 
rails.  A  friend  named  Pollard  Simmons,  who  still 
survives  and  has  related  the  incident  to  me,  walked 
out  to  the  point  where  he  was  working  with  the 
cheering  news.  Lincoln,  being  a  Whig  and  know- 
ing Calhoun^s  pronounced  Democratic  tendencies, 
enquired  if  he  had  to  sacrifice  any  principle  in  ac- 
cepting the  position.  **  If  I  can  be  perfectly  free 
in  my  political  action  I  will  take  the  office,'*  he 
remarked  ;  *'  but  if  my  sentiments  or  even  expres- 
sion of  them  is  to  be  abridged  in  any  way  I  would 
not  have  it  or  any  other  office. "  A  young  man  ham- 
pered by  poverty  as  Lincoln  was  at  this  time,  who 
had  the  courage  to  deal  with  public  office  as  he  did, 
was  certainly  made  of  unalloyed  material.  No 
wonder  in  after  years  when  he  was  defeated  by 
Douglas  he  could  inspire  his  friends  by  the  admoni- 
tion not  to  ^'  give  up  after  one  nor  one  hundred 
defeats.'* 

After  taking  service  with  Calhoun,  Lincoln  found 
he  had  but  little  if  any  practical  knowledge  of  sur- 
veying— all  that  had  to  be  learned.  Calhoun  fur- 
nished him  with  books,  directing  him  to  study  them 
till  he  felt  competent  to  begin  work.  He  again 
invoked  the  assistance  of  Mentor  Graham,  the 
schoolmaster,  who  ^ided  him  in  his  efforts  at  calcu- 
lating the  results  of  surveys  and  measurements. 
Lincoln  was  not  a  mathematician  by  nature,  and 
hence,  with  him,  learning  meant  labor.  Graham's 
daughter  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  her 
father  and  Lincoln  frequently  sat  up  till  midnight 


112  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

engrossed  in  calculations,  and  only  ceased  when 
her  mother  drove  them  out  after  a  fresh  sup. 
ply  of  wood  for  the  fire.  Meanwhile  Lincoln  was 
keeping  up  his  lav\'  studies.  *^  He  studied  to  see 
the  subject-matter  clearly/'  says  Graham,  '^and  to 
express  it  truly  and  strongly.  I  have  known  him 
to  study  for  hours  the  best  way  of  three  to  express 
an  idea.''  He  was  so  studious  and  absorbed  in  his 
application  at  one  time,  that  his  friends,  according 
to  a  statement  made  by  one  ^  of  them,  ^*  noticed 
that  he  was  so  emaciated  we  feared  he  might 
bring  on  mental  derangement."  It  was  not 
long,  however,  until  he  had  mastered  surveying 
as  a  study,  and  then  he  was  sent  out  to  work  by  his 
superior — Calhoun.  It  has  never  been  denied  that 
his  surveys  were  exact  and  just,  and  he  was  so  mani- 
festly fair  that  he  was  often  chosen  to  settle  dis- 
puted questions  of  corners  and  measurements.  It 
is  worthy  of  note  here  that,  with  all  his  knowledge 
of  lands  and  their  value  and  the  opportunities  that 
lay  open  to  him  for  profitable  and  safe  investments, 
he  never  made  use  of  the  information  thus  obtained 
from  official  sources,  nor  made  a  single  speculation 
on  his  own  account.  The  high  value  he  placed  on 
public  office  was  more  fully  emphasized  when  as 
President,  in  answer  to  a  delegation  of  gentlemen 
who  called  to  press  the  claims  of  one  of  his  warm 
personal  friends  for  an  important  office,  he  declined 
on  the  ground  that  *^he  did  not  regard  it   as  just  to 


*  Henry  McHenry,  MS.,  Oct.  5,  18 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


113 


€he  public  to  pay  the  debts   of  personal   friendship 
with  ofifices  that  belonged  to  the  people/' 

As  surveyor  under  Calhoun  he  was  sent  for  at 
one  time  to  decide  or  locate  a  disputed  corner  for 
some  persons  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county. 
Among  others  interested  was  his  friend  and  admirer 
Henry  McHenry.  *' After  a  good  deal  of  disputing 
we  agreed,"  says  the  latter,  ''to  send  for  Lincoln 
and  to  abide  by  his  decision.  He  came  with  com- 
pass, flag-staff,  and  chain.  He  stopped  with  me 
three  or  four  days  and  surveyed  the  whole  section. 
When  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  disputed  corner  by 
actual  survey  he  called  for  his  staff  and  driving  it 
in  the  ground  at  a  certain  spot  said,  '  Gentlemen, 
here  is  the  corner.'  We  dug  down  into  the  ground 
at  the  point  indicated  and,  lo  !  there  we  found, 
about  six  or  eight  inches  of  the  original  stake 
sharpened  at  the  end,  and  beneath  which  was  the 
usual  piece  of  charcoal  placed  there  by  Rector  the 
surveyor  who  laid  the  ground  off  for  the  govern- 
ment many  years  before."  So  fairly  and  well  had 
the  young  surveyor  done  his  duty  that  all  parties 
went  away  completely  satisfied.  As  late  as  1865  the 
corner  was  preserved  by  a  mark  and  pointed  out  to 
strangers  as  an  evidence  of  the  young  surveyor's 
skill.  Russell  Godby,  mentioned  in  the  earlier 
pages  of  this  chapter,  presented  to  me  a  certificate  of 
survey  given  to  him  by  Lincoln.'  It  was  written  Jan- 
nary  14,  1834,  and  is  signed  "  J.  Calhoun,  S.  S.  C,  by 
A.  Lincoln.**  *'  The  survey  was  made  by  Lincoln," 
says  Godby,  **  and  I  gave  him  as  pay  for  his  work 
two   buckskins,  which    Hannah   Armstrong  *  foxed ' 


1 14  THE  LIFE  GF  LINCOLN. 

on    his  pants  so   that  the    briers  would   not  wear 
them  out." 

Honors  were  now  crowding  thick  and  fast  upon 
him.  On  May  7,  1833,  he  was  commissioned  post- 
master at  New  Salem,  the  first  office  he  ever  held 
under  the  Federal  Government.  The  salary  was 
proportionate  to  the  amount  of  business  done. 
Whether  Lincoln  solicited  the  appointment  himself, 
or  whether  it  was  given  him  without  the  asking,  I 
do  not  know  ;  but  certain  it  is  his  ^'  administration" 
gave  general  satisfaction.  The  mail  arrived  once  a 
week,  and  we  can  imagine  the  extent  of  time  and 
labor  required  to  distribute  it,  when  it  is  known  that 
**  he  carried  the  office  around  in  his  hat.'*  Mr. 
Lincoln  used  to  tell  me  that  when  he  had  a  call  to 
go  to  the  country  to  survey  a  piece  of  land,  he 
placed  inside  his  hat  all  the  letters  belonging  to 
people  in  the  neighborhood  and  distributed  them 
along  the  way.  He  made  head-quarters  in  Samuel 
Hill's  store,  and  there  the  office  may  be  said  to  have 
been  located,  as  Hill  himself  had  been  postmaster 
before  Lincoln.  Between  the  revenue  derived  from 
the  post-office  and  his  income  from  land  surveys 
Lincoln  was,  in  the  expressive  language  of  the  day, 
*' getting  along  well  enough.'*  Suddenly,  however, 
smooth  sailing  ceased  and  all  his  prospects  of  easy 
times  ahead  were  again  brought  to  naught.  One 
Van  Bergen  brought  suit  against  him  and  obtained 
judgment  on  one  of  the  notes  given  in  payment  of 
the  store  debt — a  relic  of  the  unfortunate  partner- 
ship with  Berry.  His  personal  effects  were  levied 
on  and  sold,    his  horse  and  surveying  instruments 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 1  5 

going  with  the  rest.  But  again  a  friend,  one  James 
Short,'  whose  favor  he  had  gained,  interposed  ; 
bought  in  the  property  and  restored  it  to  the  hope- 
less young  surveyor.  It  will  be  seen  now  what 
kind  of  friends  Lincoln  was  gaining.  The  bonds 
he  was  thus  making  were  destined  to  stand  the 
severest  of  tests.  His  case  never  became  so  des- 
perate but  a  friend  came  out  of  the  darkness  to 
relieve  him. 

There  was  always  something  about  Lincoln  in 
his  earlier  days  to  encourage  his  friends.  He  was 
not  only  grateful  for  whatever  aid  was  given  him, 
but  he  always  longed  to  help  some  one  else.  He 
had  an  unfailing  disposition  to  succor  the  weak  and 
the  unfortunate,  and  was  always,  in  his  sympathy, 
struggling  with  the  under  dog  in  the  fight.  He 
was  once  overtaken  when  about  fourteen  miles  from 
Springfield  by  one  Chandler,  whom  he  knew  slightly, 
and  who,  having  already  driven  twenty  miles,  was 
hastening  to  reach  the  land  office  before  a  certain 
other  man  who  had  gone  by  a  different  road. 
Chandler  explained  to  Lincoln  that  he  was  poor 
and  wanted  to  enter  a  small  tract  of  land  which 
adjoined  his,  that  another  man  of  considerable 
wealth  had  also  determined  to  have  it,  and  had 
mounted  his  horse  and  started  for  Springfield. 
"  Meanwhile,  my  neighbors,*'  continued  Chandler, 
*^  collected  and  advanced  me  the  necessary  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  now,  if  I  can  reach  the  land  office 
first,  I  can  secure  the  land.*'  Lincoln  noticed  that 
Chandler's  horse  was  too  much  fatigued  to  stand 
fourteen  miles  more  of  a  forced  march,  and  he  there- 


1 1 6  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

fore  dismounted  from  his  own  and  turned  him 
over  to  Chandler,  saying,  ''  Here's  my  horse — he  is 
fresh  and  full  of  grit ;  there's  no  time  to  be  lost ; 
mount  him  and  put  him  through.  When  you  reach 
Springfield  put  him  up  at  Herndon's  tavern  and  Til 
call  and  get  him.'*  Thus  encouraged  Chandler 
moved  on,  leaving  Lincoln  to  follow  on  the  jaded 
animal.  He  reached  Springfield  over  an  hour  in 
advance  of  his  rival  and  thus  secured  the  coveted 
tract  of  land.  By  nightfall  Lincoln  rode  leisurely 
into  town  and  was  met  by  the  now  radiant  Chan- 
dler, jubilant  over  his  success.  Between  the  two  a 
friendship  sprang  up  which  all  the  political  discords 
of  twenty-five  years  never  shattered  nor  strained. 

About  this  time  Lincoln  began  to  extend  some- 
what his  system — if  he  really  ever  had  a  system  in 
anything — of  reading.  He  now  began  to  read  the 
writings  of  Paine,  Volney,  and  Voltaire.  A  good 
deal  of  religious  skepticism  existed  at  New  Salem, 
and  there  were  frequent  discussions  at  the  store  and 
tavern,  in  which  Lincoln  took  part.  What  views  he 
entertained  on  religious  questions  will  be  more 
fully  detailed  in  another  place. 

No  little  of  Lincoln's  influence  with  the  men  of 
New  Salem  can  be  attributed  to  his  extraordinary 
feats  of  strength.  By  an  arrangement  of  ropes  and 
straps,  harnessed  about  his  hips,  he  was  enabled  one 
day  at  the  mill  to  astonish  a  crowd  of  village  celeb- 
rities by  lifting  a  box  of  stones  weighing  near  a 
thousand  pounds.  There  is  no  fiction  either,  as  sug- 
gested by  some  of  his  biographers,  in  the  story  that 
he  lifted  a  barrel  of  whisky  from  the  ground  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  11/ 

drank  from  the  bung ;  but  in  performing  this  latter 
almost  incredible  feat  he  did  not  stand  erect  and 
elevate  the  barrel,  but  squatted  down  and  lifted  it 
to  his  knees,  rolling  it  over  until  his  mouth  came 
opposite  the  bung.  His  strength,  kindness  of  man- 
ner, love  of  fairness  and  justice,  his  original  and 
unique  sayings,  his  power  of  mimicry,  his  perse- 
verance— all  made  a  combination  rarely  met  with 
on  the  frontier.  Nature  had  burnt  him  in  hei 
holy  fire,  and  stamped  him  with  the  seal  of  hei^ 
greatness. 

In  the  summer  of  1834  Lincoln  determined  to 
make  another  race  for  the  legislature;  but  this 
time  he  ran  distinctly  as  a  Whig.  He  made,  it  is 
presumed,  the  usual  number  of  speeches,  but  as  the 
art  of  newspaper  reporting  had  not  reached  the 
perfection  it  has  since  attained,  we  are  not  favored 
with  even  the  substance  of  his  efforts  on  the  stump. 
I  have  Lincoln's  word  for  it  that  it  was  more  of  a 
hand-shaking  campaign  than  anything  else.  Rowan 
Herndon  relates  that  he  came  to  his  house  during 
harvest,  when  there  were  a  large  number  of  men  at 
work  in  the  field.  He  was  introduced  to  them,  but 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  apprize  him  of  their  esteem 
for  a  man  who  could  labor  ;  and  their  admiration  for 
a  candidate  for  ofifice  was  gauged  somewhat  by  the 
amount  of  work  he  could  do.  Learning  these  facts, 
Lincoln  took  hold  of  a  cradle,  and  handling  it  with 
ease  and  remarkable  speed,  soon  distanced  those 
who  undertook  to  follow  him.  The  men  were  satis- 
fied, and  it  is  presumed  he  lost  no  votes  in  that 
crowd.     One  Dr.  Barrett,  seeing  Lincoln,  enquired 


1 1 8  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

of  the  latter's  friends:  **  Can't  the  party  raise  any- 
better  material  than  that  ? "  but  after  hearing  his 
speech  the  doctor^s  opinion  was  considerably  al- 
tered, for  he  declared  that  Lincoln  filled  him  with 
amazement ;  ''  that  he  knew  more  than  all  of  the 
other  candidates  put  together/'  The  election  took 
place  in  August.  Lincoln's  friend,  John  T.  Stuart^ 
was  also  a  candidate  on  the  legislative  ticket.  He 
encouraged  Lincoln's  canvas  in  every  way,  even  at 
the  risk  of  sacrificing  his  own  chances.  But  both 
were  elected.  The  four  successful  candidates  were 
Dawson,  who  received  1390  votes,^  Lincoln  1376, 
Carpenter  11 70,  and  Stuart   1164. 

At  last  Lincoln  had  been  elected  to  the  legislature, 
and  by  a  very  flattering  majority.  In  order,  as  he 
himself  said,  *^  to  make  a  decent  appearance  in  the 
legislature,"  he  had  to  borrow  money  to  buy  suit- 
able clothing  and  to  maintain  his  new  dignity. 
Coleman  Smoot,  one  of  his  friends,  advanced  him 
**two  hundred  dollars,  which  he  returned,  relates 
the  generous  Smoot,  according  to  promise."  Here 
we  leave  our  rising  young  statesman,  to  take  up 
a  different  but  very  interesting  period  of  his  his- 
tory. 


*  In  all  former  biographies  of  Lincoln,  including  the  Nicolay  and 
Hay  history  in  the  *' Century  Magazine,"  Dawson's  vote  is  fixed  at 
1370,  and  Lincoln  is  thereby  made  to  lead  the  ticket ;  but  in  the  sec- 
ond issue  of  the  Sangamon  Journal  after  the  election — August  i6, 
1834 — the  count  is  corrected,  and  Dawson's  vote  is  increased  to  1390. 
Dr.  A.  W.  French,  of  Springfield,  is  the  possessor  of  an  official  return 
of  the  votes  cast  at  the  New  Salem  precinct,  made  out  in  the  hand* 
writing  of  Lincoln,  which  also  gives  Dawson's  vote  at  1390. 


CHAPTER  VI- 

Since  the  days  when  in  Indiana  Lincoln  sat  on 
the  river's  bank  with  little  Kate  Roby,  dangling  his 
bare  feet  in  the  water,  there  has  been  no  hint  in 
these  pages  of  tender  relations  with  any  one  of  the 
opposite  sex.  Now  we  approach  in  timely  order 
the  ''grand  passion"  of  his  life — a  romance  of 
much  reality,  the  memory  of  which  threw  a  melan- 
choly shade  over  the  remainder  of  his  days.  For 
the  first  time  our  hero  falls  in  love.  The  courtship 
with  Anne  Rutledge  and  her  untimely  death  form 
the  saddest  page  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  history.  I  am 
aware  that  most  of  his  biographers  have  taken  issue 
with  me  on  this  phase  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  life. 
Arnold  says*.  '*  The  picture  has  been  somewhat  too 
highly  colored,  and  the  story  made  rather  too 
tragic.'*  Dr.  Holland  and  others  omit  the  subject 
altogether,  while  the  most  recent  biography — the 
admirable  history  by  my  friends  Nicolay  and  Hay. 
• — devotes  but  five  lines  to  it.  I  knew  Miss  Rut- 
ledge  myself,  as  well  as  her  father  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  family,  and  have  been  personally  ac- 
quainted with  every  one  of  the  score  or  more  of 
witnesses  whom  I  at  one  time  or  another  inter- 
viewed on  this  delicate  subject.  From  my  own 
knowledge  and  the  information  thus  obtained,  I 
therefore   repeat,  that  the  memory  of  Anne  Rut 

119 


I20  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

ledge  was   the   saddest    chapter   in    Mr.    Lincoln's 
life.^ 

James  Rutledge,  the  father  of  this  interesting 
girl,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  New  Salem,  having 
come  there  from  Kentucky  in  1829.  He  was  born 
in  South  Carolina  and  belonged  to  the  noted  Rut- 
ledge  family  of  that  State.  I  knew  him  as  early  as 
1833,  and  have  often  shared  the  hospitality  of  his 
home.  My  father  was  a  politician  and  an  extensive 
stock  dealer  in  that  early  day,  and  he  and  Mr.  Rut- 
ledge  were  great  friends.  The  latter  was  a  man  of 
no  little  force  of  character ;  those  who  knew  him 
best  loved  him  the  most.  Like  other  Southern  peo- 
ple he  was  warm, — almost  to  impulsiveness, — social, 
and  generous.  His  hospitality,  an  inherited  qual- 
ity that  flashed  with  him  before  he  was  born, 
developed  by  contact  with  the  brave  and  broad- 
minded  people  whom  he  met  in  Illinois.  Besides 
his  business  interests  in  the  store  and  mill  at  New 
Salem,  he  kept  the  tavern  where  Lincoln  came  to 
board  in  1833.  f^is  family,  besides  himself  and 
wife,  consisted  of  nine  children,  three  of  whom  were 
born  in  Kentucky,  the  remaining  six  in  Illinois. 
Anne,  the  subject  of  this  chapter,  was  the  third 
child.  She  was  a  beautiful  girl,  and  by  her  win- 
ning ways  attached  people  to  her  so  firmly  that  she 
soon  became  the  most  popular  young  lady  in  the 
village.     She  was    quick  of  apprehension,  industri- 

*  In  a  letter  dated  Dec.  4,  1866,  one  of  Miss  Rutledge's  brothers 
writes :  "  When  he  first  came  to  New  Salem  and  up  to  the  day  of 
Anne's  death  Mr.  Lincoln  was  all  life  and  animation.  He  seemed  to 
see  the  bright  side  of  every  picture." 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  121 

ous,  and  an  excellent  housekeeper.  She  had  a 
moderate  education,  but  was  not  cultured  except 
by  contrast  with  those  around  her.  One  of  her 
strong  points  was  her  womanly  skill.  She  was  dex- 
terous in  the  use  of  the  needle — an  accomplishment 
of  far  more  value  in  that  day  than  all  the  acquire- 
ments of  art  in  china  painting  and  hammered  brass 
are  in  this — and  her  needle-work  was  the  wonder 
of  the  day.  At  every  *'  quilting ''  Anne  was  a 
necessary  adjunct,  and  her  nimble  fingers  drove  the 
needle  more  swiftly  than  anyone's  else.  Lincoln 
used  to  escort  her  to  and  from  these  quilting-bees, 
and  on  one  occasion  even  went  into  the  house — ■ 
where  men  were  considered  out  of  place — and  sat 
by  her  side  as  she  worked  on  the  quilt. 

He  whispered  into  her  ear  the  old,  old  story. 
Her  heart  throbbed  and  her  soul  was  thrilled  with 
a  joy  as  old  as  the  world  itself.  Her  fingers 
momentarily  lost  their  skill.  In  her  ecstasy  she 
made  such  irregular  and  uneven  stitches  that  the 
older  and  more  sedate  women  noted  it,  and  the 
owner  of  the  quilt,  until  a  few  years  ago  still  re- 
taining it  as  a  precious  souvenir,  pointed  out  the 
memorable  stitches  to  such  persons  as  visited  her. 

L.  M.  Greene,  who  remembered  Anne  well,  says, 
*'  She  was  amiable  and  of  exquisite  beauty,  and  her 
intellect  was  quick,  deep,  and  philosophic  as  well  as 
brilliant.  She  had  a  heart  as  gentle  and  kind  as 
an  angel,  and  full  of  love  and  sympathy.  Her  sweet 
and  angelic  nature  was  noted  by  every  one  who  met 
her.  She  was  a  woman  worthy  of  Lincoln's  love." 
This  is    a    little    overstated  as    to    beauty — Greene 


122  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

writes  as  if  he  too  had  been  in  love  with  her — but 
is  otherwise  nearly  correct. 

**  Miss  Rutledge/'  says  a  lady  "^  who  knew  her, 
**  had  auburn  hair,  blue  eyes,  fair  complexion. 
She  was  pretty,  slightly  slender,  but  in  everything 
a  good  hearted  young  woman.  She  was  about  five 
feet  two  inches  high,  and  weighed  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  a  hundred  and  twenty  pounds.  She  was 
beloved  by  all  who  knew  her.  She  died  as  it  were 
of  grief.  In  speaking  of  her  death  and  her  grave 
Lincoln  once  said  to  me,  '  My  heart  lies  buried 
there.' " 

Before  narrating  the  details  of  Lincoln's  courtship 
with  Miss  Rutledge,  it  is  proper  to  mention  briefly 
a  few  facts  that  occurred  before  their  attachment  be- 
gan. 

About  the  same  time  that  Lincoln  drifted  into 
New  Salem  there  came  in  from  the  Eastern  States 
John  McNeil,  a  young  man  of  enterprise  and  great 
activity,  seeking  his  fortune  in  the  West.  He  went 
to  work  at  once,  and  within  a  short  time  had  accu- 
mulated by  commendable  effort  a  comfortable 
amount  of  property.  Within  three  years  he  owned 
a  farm,  and  a  half  interest  with  Samuel  Hill  in  the 
leading  store.  He  had  good  capacity  for  business, 
and  was  a  valuable  addition  to  that  already  preten- 
tious village — New  Salem.  It  was  while  living  at 
James  Cameron's  house  that  this  plucky  and  indus- 
trious young  business  man  first  saw  Anne  Rut- 
ledge.     At  that  time   she  was  attending  the  school 

*  Mrs.  Hardin  Bale. 


^  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 23 

of  Mentor  Graham,  a  pedagogue  of  local  renown 
whose  name  is  frequently  met  with  in  these  pages, 
and  who  flourished  in  and  around  New  Salem  from 
1829  to  i860.  McNeil  fell  deeply  in  love  with  the 
school-girl — she  was  then  only  seventeen — and  paid 
her  the  usual  unremitting  attentions  young  lovers 
of  that  age  had  done  before  him  and  are  still  doing 
to-day.  His  partner  in  the  store,  Samuel  Hill,  a 
young  man  of  equal  force  of  character,  who  after- 
wards amassed  a  comfortable  fortune,  and  also 
wielded  no  little  influence  as  a  local  politician,  laid 
siege  to  the  heart  of  this  same  attractive  maiden, 
but  he  yielded  up  the  contest  early.  Anne  rejected 
him,  and  he  dropped  from  the  race.  McNeil  had 
clear  sailing  from  this  time  forward.  He  was 
acquiring  property  and  money  day  by  day.  As  one 
of  the  pioneers  puts  it,  **  Men  were  honest  then, 
and  paid  their  debts  at  least  once  a  year.  The 
merchant  surrounded  by  a  rich  country  suffered  lit- 
tle from  competition.  As  he  placed  his  goods  on 
the  shelf  he  added  an  advance  of  from  seventy-five 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent  over  cost  price, 
and  thus  managed  to  get  along.'*  After  ''  manag- 
ing *'  thus  for  several  years,  McNeil,  having  disposed 
of  his  interest  in  the  store  to  Hill,  determined  to 
return  to  New  York,  his  native  State,  for  a  visit. 
He  had  accumulated  up  to  this  time,  as  near  as  we 
can  learn,  ten  or  possibly  twelve  thousand  dollars. 
Before  leaving  he  made  to  Anne  a  singular  reve- 
lation. He  told  her  the  name  McNeil  was  an 
assumed  one  ;  that  his  real  name  was  McNamar. 


124  1^^^  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

''  I  left  behind  me  in  New  York/'  he  said,  **  my 
parents  and  brothers  and  sisters.  They  are  poor, 
and  were  in  more  or  less  need  when  I  left  them  in 
1829.  I  vowed  that  I  would  come  West,  make  a 
fortune,  and  go  back  to  help  them.  I  am  going  to 
start  now  and  intend,  if  I  can,  to  bring  them  with 
me  on  my  return  to  Illinois  and  place  them  on  my 
farm/'  He  expressed  a  sense  of  deep  satisfaction 
in  being  able  to  clear  up  all  mysteries  which  might 
have  formed  in  the  mind  of  her  to  whom  he  con- 
fided his  love.  He  would  keep  nothing,  he  said, 
from  her.  They  were  engaged  to  be  married,  and 
she  should  know  it  all.  The  change  of  his  name 
was  occasioned  by  the  fear  that  if  the  family  in 
New  York  had  known  where  he  was  they  would 
have  settled  down  on  him,  and  before  he  could  have 
accumulated  any  property  would  have  sunk  him 
beyond  recovery.  Now,  however,  he  was  in  a  con- 
dition to  help  them,  and  he  felt  overjoyed  at  the 
thought.  As  soon  as  the  journey  to  New  York 
could  be  made  he  would  return.  Once  again  in 
New  Salem  he  and  his  fair  one  could  consummate 
the  great  event  to  which  they  looked  forward  with 
undisguised  joy  and  unbounded  hope.  Thus  he 
explained  to  Anne  the  purpose  of  his  journey — a 
story  with  some  remarkable  features,  all  of  which 
she  fully  believed. 

"She  would  have  believed  it  all  the  same  if  it  had 
been  ten  times  as  incredible.  A  wise  man  would 
have  rejected  it  with  scorn,  but  the  girl's  instinct  was 
a  better  guide,  and  McNamar  proved  to  be  all  that 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLJSr.  1 25 

he  said  he  was,  although  poor  Anne  never  saw  the 
proof  which  others  got  of  it.'*  ^ 

At  last  McNamar,  mounting  an  old  horse  that 
had  participated  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  began  his 
journey.  In  passing  through  Ohio  he  became  ill 
with  a  fever.  For  almost  a  month  he  was  confined 
to  his  room,  and  a  portion  of  the  time  was  uncon- 
scious. As  he  approached  a  return  to  good  health 
he  grew  nervous  over  the  delay  in  his  trip.  He 
told  no  one  around  him  his  real  name,  destination, 
or  business.  He  knew  how  his  failure  to  write  to 
New  Salem  would  be  construed,  and  the  resulting 
irritation  gave  way  to  a  feeling  of  desperation.  In 
plainer  language,  he  concluded  it  was  '*  all  up  with 
him  now."  Meanwhile  a  different  view  of  the  mat- 
ter was  taken  by  Miss  Rutledge.  Her  friends 
encouraged  the  idea  of  cruel  desertion.  The 
change  of  McNeil  to  McNamar  had  wrought  in 
their  minds  a  change  of  sentiment.  Some  con- 
tended that  he  had  undoubtedly  committed  a  crime 
in  his  earlier  days,  and  for  years  had  rested  secure 
from  apprehension  under  the  shadow  of  an  assumed 
name ;  while  others  with  equal  assurance  whispered 
in  the  unfortunate  girFs  ear  the  old  story  of  a  rival 
in  her  affections.  Anne's  lady  friends,  strange  to 
relate,  did  more  to  bring  about  a  discordant  feeling 
than  all  others.  Women  are  peculiar  creatures. 
They  love  to  nettle  and  mortify  one  another ;  and 
when  one  of  their  own  sex  has  fallen,  how  little 
sympathy  they  seem  to  have  !     But  under  all  this 

*  Lamon,  p.  161. 


126  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

fire,  in  the  face  of  all  these  insidious  criticisms,  Anne 
remained  firm.     She  had  faith,  and  bided  her  time. 

McNamar,  after  much  vexatious  delay,  finally 
reached  his  birthplace  in  New  York,  finding 
his  father  in  the  decline  of  years  and  health. 
He  provided  for  his  immediate  needs,  and  by  his 
assiduous  attentions  undertook  to  atone  for  the 
years  of  his  neglect  ;  but  all  to  no  purpose.  The 
old  gentleman  gradually  faded  from  the  world, 
and  early  one  winter  morning  crossed  the  great 
river.  McNamar  was  thus  left  to  settle  up  the 
few  unfinished  details  of  his  father's  estate,  and  to 
provide  for  the  pressing  needs  of  the  family.  His 
detention  necessitated  a  letter  to  Anne,  explaining 
the  nature  and  cause  of  the  delay.  Other  letters 
followed  ;  but  each  succeeding  one  growing  less 
ardent  in  tone,  and  more  formal  in  phraseology  than 
its  predecessor,  Anne  began  to  lose  faith.  Had 
his  love  gradually  died  away  like  the  morning  wind? 
was  a  question  she  often  asked  herself.  She  had 
stood  firm  under  fire  before,  but  now  her  heart  grew 
sick  with  hope  deferred.  At  last  the  correspondence 
ceased  altogether. 

At  this  point  we  are  favored  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  ungainly  Lincoln,  as  a  suitor  for  the 
hand  of  Miss  Rutledge.  Lincoln  had  learned  of 
McNamar's  strange  conduct,  and  conjecturing 
that  all  the  silken  ties  that  bound  the  two 
together  had  been  sundered,  ventured  to  step  in 
himself.  He  had  seen  the  young  lady  when  a  mere 
girl  at  Mentor  Graham's  school,  and  he,  no  doubt, 
then  had  formed  a  high  opinion    of  her   qualities 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 2/ 

But  he  was  too  bashful,  as  his  friend  EUis  declares, 
to  tell  her  of  it.  No  doubt,  when  he  began  to  pay 
her  attentions  she  was  the  most  attractive  young 
lady  whom  up  to  that  time  he  had  ever  met.  She 
was  not  only  modest  and  winning  in  her  ways,  and 
full  of  good,  womanly  common-sense,  but  withal  re- 
fined, in  contrast  with  the  uncultured  people  who 
surrounded  both  herself  and  Lincoln.  *'  She  had  a 
secret,  too,  and  a  sorrow, — the  unexplained  and 
painful  absence  of  McNamar, — which,  no  doubt, 
made  her  all  the  more  interesting  to  him  whose 
spirit  was  often  even  more  melancholy  than  her 
own.** 

In  after  years,  McNamar  himself,  describing  her 
to  me,  said  :  **  Miss  Rutledge  was  a  gentle,  amiable 
maiden,  without  any  of  the  airs  of  your  city  belles, 
but  winsome  and  comely  withal;  a  blonde  in  com- 
plexion, with  golden  hair,  cherry-red  lips,  and  a 
bonny  blue  eye.  As  to  her  literary  attainments,  she 
undoubtedly  was  as  classic  a  scholar  as  Mr  Lincoln. 
She  had  at  the  time  she  met  him,  I  believe,  at- 
tended a  literary  institution  at  Jacksonville,  in  com- 
pany with  her  brother." 

McNamar  seems  to  have  considered  Lincoln^s 
bashfulness  as  proof  against  the  alluring  charms  of 
Miss    Rutledge  or    anybody  else,  for  he  continues : 

*^  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  to  my  knowledge  paying 
particular  attention  to  any  of  the  young  ladies  of 
my  acquaintance  when  I  left  for  my  home  in  New 
York.  There  was  no  rivalry  between  us  on  that 
score  ;  on  the  contrary,  I  had  every  reason  to  believe 
him  my    warm,  personal    friend.     But   by-and-by  I 


128  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

was  left  so  far  behind  in  the  race  I  did  not  deem  my 
chances  worthy  of  notice.  From  this  time  forward 
he  made  rapid  strides  to  that  imperishable  fame 
which  justly  fills  a  world/* 

Lincoln  began  to  court  Miss  Rutledge  in  dead 
earnest.  Like  David  Copperfield,  he  soon  realized 
that  he  was  in  danger  of  becoming  deeply  in  love,  and 
as  he  approached  the  brink  of  the  pit  he  trembled 
lest  he  should  indeed  fall  in.  As  he  pleaded  and 
pressed  his  cause  the  Rutledges  and  all  New  Salem 
encouraged  his  suit.  McNamar's  unexplained  ab- 
sence and  apparent  neglect  furnished  outsiders 
with  all  the  arguments  needed  to  encourage  Lincoln 
and  convince  Anne.  Although  the  attachment  was 
growing  and  daily  becoming  an  intense  and  mutual 
passion,  the  young  lady  remained  firm  and  almost 
inflexible.  She  was  passing  through  another  fire. 
A  long  struggle  with  her  feelings  followed  ;  but  at 
length  the  inevitable  moment  came.  She  consented 
to  have  Lincoln,  provided  he  gave  her  time  to  write 
to  McNamar  and  obtain  his  release  from  her  pledge. 
The  slow-moving  mails  carried  her  tender  letter  to 
New  York.  Days  and  weeks — which  to  the  ardent 
Lincoln  must  have  seemed  painfully  long — passed, 
but  the  answer  never  came.  In  a  half-hearted  way 
she  turned  to  Lincoln,  and  her  looks  told  him  that 
he  had  won.  She  accepted  his  proposal.  Now 
that  they  were  engaged  he  told  her  what  she  already 
knew,  that  he  was  poverty  itself.  She  must  grant 
him  time  to  gather  up  funds  to  live  on  until  he  had 
completed  his  law  studies.  After  this  trifling  delay 
"  nothing    on    God's    footstool,'*    argued    the   em- 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN-.  1 29 

phatic  lover,  could  keep  them  apart.  To  this  the 
thoughtful  Anne  consented.  To  one  of  her 
brothers,  she  said  :  *'  As  soon  as  his  studies  are  com- 
pleted we  are  to  be  married.''  But  the  ghost  of 
another  love  would  often  rise  unbidden  before  her. 
Within  her  bosom  raged  the  conflict  which  finally 
undermined  her  health.  Late  in  the  summer  she 
took  to  her  bed.  A  fever  was  burning  in  her  head. 
Day  by  day  she  sank,  until  all  hope  was  banished. 
During  the  latter  days  of  her  sickness,  her  physician 
had  forbidden  visitors  to  enter  her  room,  prescribing 
absolute  quiet.  But  her  brother  relates  that  she 
kept  enquiring  for  Lincoln  so  continuously,  at  times 
demanding  to  see  him,  that  the  family  at  last  sent 
for  him.  On  his  arrival  at  her  bedside  the  door  was 
closed  and  he  was  left  alone  with  her.  What  was 
said,  what  vows  and  revelations  were  made  during 
this  sad  interview,  were  known  only  to  him  and  the 
dying  girl.  A  few  days  afterward  she  became  un- 
conscious and  remained  so  until  her  death  on  the 
25th  day  of  August,  1835.  She  was  buried  in  what 
is  known  as  the  ,  Concord  grave-yard,  about  seven 
miles  north-west  of  the  town  of  Petersburg."^ 

The  most  astonishing  and  sad  sequel  to  this  court- 

*  "  I  have  heard  mother  say  that  Anne  would  frequently  sing  for 
Lincoln's  benefit.  She  had  a  clear,  ringing  voice.  Early  in  her  ill- 
ness he  called,  and  she  sang  a  hymn  for  which  he  always  expressed 
a  great  preference.     It  begins  : 

*  Vain  man,  thy  fond  pursuits  forbear.' 

You  will  find  it  in  one  of  the  standard  hymn-books.  It  was  like* 
wise  the  last  thing  she  ever  sung." — Letter,  John  M.  Rutledge, 
MS..  Nov.  2S,  1866. 


I30  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

ship  was  the  disastrous  effect  of  Miss  Rutledge's 
death  on  Mr.  Lincoln's  mind.  It  operated  strangely 
on  one  of  his  calm  and  stoical  make-up.  As  he  re- 
turned from  the  visit  to  the  bedside  of  Miss  Rut- 
ledge,  he  stopped  at  the  house  of  a  friend,  who  re- 
lates that  his  face  showed  signs  of  no  little  mental 
agony.  ^^  He  was  very  much  distressed,*'  is  the 
language  of  this  friend,  "  and  I  was  not  surprised 
when  it  was  rumored  subsequently  that  his  rea- 
son was  in  danger.'*  One  of  Miss  Rutledge's 
brothers  *  says :  **  The  effect  upon  Mr.  Lincoln's 
mind  was  terrible.  He  became  plunged  in  despair, 
and  many  of  his  friends  feared  that  reason  would 
desert  her  throne.  His  extraordinary  emotions 
were  regarded  as  strong  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  the  tenderest. relations  between  himself  and  the 
deceased."  The  truth  is  Mr.  Lincoln  was  strangely 
wrought  up  over  the  sad  ending  of  the  affair.  He 
had  fits  of  great  mental  depression,  and  wandered 
up  and  down  the  river  and  into  the  woods  woefully 
abstracted — at  times  in  the  deepest  distress.  If, 
when  we  read  what  the  many  credible  persons  who 
knew  him  at  the  time  tell  us,  we  do  not  con- 
clude that  he  was  deranged^  we  must  admit  that 
he  walked  on  that  sharp  and  narrow  line  which  di- 
vides sanity  from  insanity.  To  one  friend  he  com- 
plained that  the  thought  *'  that  the  snows  and  rains 
fall  upon  her  grave  filled  him  with  indescribable 
grief."  f     He    was  watched  with  especial  vigilance 


*  R.  B.  Rutledge,  MS.,  letter,  Oct.  21,  1866. 
t  Letter,  Wm.  Greene,  MS.,  May  29,  i865. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN;  1 3  i 

during  damp,  stormy  days,  under  the  belief  that 
dark  and  gloomy  weather  might  produce  such  a  de- 
pression of  spirits  as  to  induce  him  to  take  his  own 
life.  His  condition  finally  became  so  alarming,  his 
friends  consulted  together  and  sent  him  to  the 
house  of  a  kind  friend,  Bowlin  Greene,  who  lived 
in  a  secluded  spot  hidden  by  the  hills,  a  mile  south 
of  town.  Here  he  remained  for  some  weeks  under 
the  care  and  ever  watchful  eye  of  this  noble  friend, 
who  gradually  brought  him  back  to  reason,  or  at 
least  a  realization  of  his  true  condition.  In  the 
years  that  followed  Mr.  Lincoln  never  forgot  the 
kindness  of  Greene  through  those  weeks  of  suffer- 
ing and  peril.  In  1842,  when  the  latter  died,  and 
Lincoln  was  selected  by  the  Masonic  lodge  to  de- 
liver the  funeral  oration,  he  broke  down  in  the  midst 
of  his  address.  "'  His  voice  was  choked  with  deep 
emotion  ;  he  stood  a  few  moments  while  his  lips 
quivered  in  the  effort  to  form  the  words  of  fervent 
praise  he  sought  to  utter,  and  the  tears  ran  down 
his  yellow  and  shrivelled  cheeks.  Every  heart  was 
hushed  at  the  spectacle.  After  repeated  efforts  he 
found  it  impossible  to  speak,  and  strode  away,  bit- 
terly sobbing,  to  the  widow's  carriage  and  was 
driven   from  the  scene." 

It  was  shortly  after  this  that  Dr.  Jason  Duncan 
placed  in  Lincoln's  hands  a  poem  called  "'  Immor- 
tality." The  piece  starts  out  with  the  line,  ''  Oh  ! 
why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud."  Lin- 
coln's love  for  this  poem  has  certainly  made  it  im- 
mortal. He  committed  these  lines  to  memory,  and 
any  reference    to    or   mention    of    Miss    Rutledge 


132  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

would  suggest  them,  as  if  "  to  celebrate  a  grief 
which  lay  with  continual  heaviness  on  his  heart/' 
There  is  no  question  that  from  this  time  forward 
Mr.  Lincoln's  spells  of  melancholy  became  more 
intense  than  ever.  In  fact  a  tinge  of  this  desper- 
ate feeling  of  sadness  followed  him  to  Springfield. 
He  himself  was  somewhat  superstitious  about  it, 
and  in  1840-41  wrote  to  Dr.  Drake,  a  celebrated 
physician  in  Cincinnati,  describing  his  mental  condi- 
tion in  a  long  letter.  Dr.  Drake  responded,  saying 
substantially,  *'  I  cannot  prescribe  in  your  case 
without  a  personal  interview.**  Joshua  F.  Speed, 
to  whom  Lincoln  showed  the  letter  addressed  to 
Dn  Drake,  writing  to  me  from  Louisville,  Novem- 
ber 30,  1866,  says  :  *'  I  think  he  (Lincoln)  must  have 
informed  Dr.  Drake  of  his  early  love  for  Miss 
Rutledge,  as  there  was  a  part  of  the  letter  which  he 
would  not  read."  It  is  shown  by  the  declaration 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  made  to  a  fellow  member^ 
of  the  Legislature  within  two  years  after  Anne 
Rutledge's  death  that  **  although  he  seemed  to 
others  to  enjoy  life  rapturously,  yet  when  alone 
he  was  so  overcome  by  mental  depression  .he  never 
dared  to  carry  a  pocket  knife.'* 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  suggest  before  I  pass 
from  mention  of  McNamar  that,  true  to  his  prom- 
ise, he  drove  into  New  Salem  in  the  fall  of  1835 
with  his  mother  and  brothers  and  sisters.  They 
had  come  through  from  New  York  in  a  wagon,  with 
all    their    portable    goods.       Anne    Rutledge    had 

♦Robert  L.  V\^ilson,  MS.,  letter,  Feb.  10,  1866 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 33 

meanwhile  died,  and  McNamar  could  only  muse  in 
silence  over  the  fading  visions  of  "what  might  have 
been/'  On  his  arrival  he  met  Lincoln,  who,  with 
the  memory  of  their  mutual  friend,  now  dead,  con- 
stantly before  him,  "  seemed  desolate  and  sorely 
distressed/'  The  little  acre  of  ground  in  Concord 
cemetery  contained  the  form  of  his  first  love,  rudely 
torn  from  him,  and  the  great  world,  throbbing  with 
life  but  cold  and  heartless,  lay  spread  before  him. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Before  taking  up  an  account  of  Lincoln's  entry 
into  the  Legislature,  which,  following  strictly  the 
order  of  time,  properly  belongs  here,  I  beg  to  di- 
gress long  enough  to  narrate  what  I  have  gathered 
relating  to  another  courtship — an  affair  of  the  heart 
which  culminated  in  a  sequel  as  amusing  as  the  one 
with  Anne  Rutledge  was  sad.  I  experienced  much 
difficulty  in  obtaining  the  particulars  of  this  court- 
ship. After  no  little  effort  I  finally  located  and 
corresponded  with  the  lady  participant  herself,  who 
in  1866  furnished  me  with  Lincoln's  letters  and  her 
own  account  of  the  affair,  requesting  the  suppres- 
sion  of  her  name  and  residence.  Since  then,  how- 
ever, she  has  died,  and  her  children  have  not  only 
consented  to  a  publication  of  the  history,  but  have 
furnished  me  recently  with  more  facts  and  an  ex- 
cellent portrait  of  their  mother  made  shortly  after 
her  refusal   of  Lincoln's  hand. 

Mary  S.  Owens — a  native  of  Green  county,  Ken- 
tucky, born  September  29,  1808 — first  became  ac- 
quainted  with  Lincoln  while  on  a  vidt  to  a  sister, 
the  wife  of  Bennet  Able,  an  early  settler  in  the  coun- 
try about  New  Salem.  Lincoln  was  a  frequent  vis- 
itor at  the  house  of  Able,  and  a  warm  friend  of  the 
family.     During    the  visit  of  Miss  Owens  in  1833, 

134 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 35 

though  only  remaining  a  month,  she  lingered 
long  enough  to  make  an  impression  on  Lincoln  ; 
but  returned  to  Kentucky  and  did  not  reappear  in 
New  Salem  till  1836.  Meanwhile  Anne  Rutledge 
had  died,  and  Lincoln's  eyes  began  to  wander  after 
the  dark-haired  visitor  from  Kentucky.  Miss 
Owens  differed  from  Miss  Rutledge  in  early  educa= 
tion  and  the  advantages  of  wealth.  She  had  re- 
ceived an  excellent  education,  her  father  being  one 
of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  men  of  his 
time  and  locality.  A  portion  of  her  schooling  was 
obtained  in  a  Catholic  convent,  though  in  religious 
faith  she  was  a  Baptist.  According  to  a  description 
furnished  me  by  herself  she  **  had  fair  skin,  deep 
blue  eyes,  and  dark  curling  hair;  height  five  feet, 
five  inches ;  weight  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds.**  She  was  good-looking  in  girlhood  ;  by 
many  esteemed  handsome,  but  became  fleshier  as 
she  grew  older.  At  the  time  of  her  second  visit 
she  reached  New  Salem  on  the  day  of  the  Presiden- 
tial election,  passing  the  polls  where  the  men  had 
congregated,  on  the  way  to  her  sister's  house.  One 
man  in  the  crowd  who  saw  her  then  was  impressed 
with  her  beauty.  Years  afterwards,  in  relating  the 
incident,  *  he  wrote  me  : 

**  She  was  tall,  portly,  had  large  blue  eyes  and  the 
finest  trimmings  I  ever  saw.  She  was  jovial,  social, 
loved  wit  and  humor,  had  a  liberal  English  educa- 
tion,' and  was  considered  wealthy.  None  of  the 
poets  or  romance  writers  have  ever  given  us  a  pict- 
ure of  a  heroine  so  beautiful  as  a  good  description 
of  Miss  Owens  in  1836  would  be." 

*  L.  M.  Greene. 


136  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN-. 

A  lady  friend  ^  says  she  was  **  handsome,  truly 
handsome,  matronly-looking,  over  ordinary  size  in 
height  and  weight/* 

A  gentleman  f  who  saw  her  a  few  years  before  her 
death  describes  her  as  **  a  nervous,  muscular  woman^ 
very  intellectual,  with  a  forehead  massive  and  angu- 
lar, square,  prominent,  and  broad/' 

At  the  time  of  her  advent  into  the  society  of  New 
Salem  she  was  polished  in  her  manners,  pleasing  in 
her  address,  and  attractive  in  many  ways.  She  had 
a  little  dash  of  coquetry  in  her  intercourse  with 
that  class  of  young  men  who  arrogated  to  them- 
selves claims  of  superiority,  but  she  never  yielded  to 
this  disposition  to  an  extent  that  would  willingly 
lend  encouragement  to  an  honest  suitor  sincerely 
desirous  of  securing  her  hand,  when  she  felt  she 
could  not  in  the  end  yield  to  a  proposal  of  marriage 
if  he  should  make  the  offer.  She  was  a  good  con- 
versationalist and  a  splendid  reader,  very  few  per- 
sons being  found  to  equal  her  in  this  accomplish- 
ment. She  was  light-hearted  and  cheery  in  her 
disposition,  kind  and  considerate  for  those  with 
whom  she  was  thrown  in  contact. 

One  of  Miss  Owens'  descendants  is  authority  for 
the  statement  that  Lincoln  had  boasted  that  **  if 
Mary  Owens  ever  returned  to  Illinois  a  second  time 
he  would  marry  her; ''  that  a  report  of  this  came  to 
her  ears,  whereupon  she  left  her  Kentucky  home 
with  a  pre-determination  to  show  him  if  she  met 

*  Mrs.  Hardin  Bale.  t  Johnson  G.  Greene. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 37 

him  that  she  was  not  to  be  caught  simply  by  the 
asking.  On  this  second  visit  Lincoln  paid  her 
more  marked  attention  than  before,  and  his  affec- 
tions became  more  and  more  enlisted  in  her  behalf. 
During  the  earlier  part  of  their  acquaintance,  fol- 
lowing the  natural  bent  of  her  temperament  she 
was  pleasing  and  entertaining  to  him.  Later  on  he 
discovered  himself  seriously  interested  in  the  blue- 
eyed  Kentuckian,  whom  he  had  really  under-esti- 
mated in  his  preconceived  opinions  of  her.  In  the 
meantime  she  too  had  become  interested,  having 
discovered  the  sterling  qualities  of  the  young  man 
who  was  paying  her  such  devoted  attention  ;  yet 
while  she  admired  she  did  not  love  him.  He  was 
ungainly  and  angular  in  his  physical  make-up,  and 
to  her  seemed  deficient  in  the  nicer  and  more  deli- 
cate attentions  which  she  felt  to  be  due  from  the 
man  whom  she  had  pictured  as  an  ideal  husband. 
He  had  given  her  to  understand  that  she  had 
greatly  charmed  him ;  but  he  was  not  himself 
certain  that  he  could  make  her  the  husband  with 
whom  he  thought  she  would  be  most  happy.  Later 
on  by  word  and  letter  he  told  her  so.  His  honesty 
of  purpose  showed  itself  in  all  his  efforts  to  win  her 
hand.  He  told  her  of  his  poverty,  and  while  advis- 
ing her  that  life  with  him  meant  to  her  who  had 
been  reared  in  comfort  and  plenty,  great  privation 
and  sacrifice,  yet  he  wished  to  secure  her  as  a  wife. 
She,  however,  felt  that  she  did  not  entertain  for  him 
the  same  feeling  that  he  professed  for  her  and  that 
she  ought  to  entertain  before  accepting  him,  and  so 
declined  his  offer.     Judging  from  his  letters  alone 


138  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

it  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  she,  remember, 
ing  the  rumor  she  had  heard  of  his  determination 
to  marry  her,  and  not  being  fully  certain  of  the 
sincerity  of  his  purposes,  may  have  purposely  left 
him  in  the  earlier  stages  of  his  courtship  somewhat 
in  uncertainty.  Later  on,  however,  when  by  his 
manner  and  repeated  announcement  to  her  that  his 
hand  and  heart  were  at  her  disposal,  he  demon- 
strated  the  honesty  and  sincerity  of  his  intentions, 
she  declined  his  offer  kindly  but  with  no  uncertain 
meaning. 

The  first  letter  I  received  from  Mrs.  Vineyard — 
for  she  was  married  to  Jesse  Vineyard,  March  27, 
1 841 — was  written  at  Weston,  Mo.,  May  i,  1866. 
Among  other  things  she  says:  *' After  quite  a 
struggle  with  my  feelings  I  have  at  last  decided  to 
send  you  the  letters  in  my  possession  written  by 
Mr.  Lincoln,  believing  as  I  do  that  you  are  a  gen- 
tleman  of  honor  and  will  faithfully  abide  by  all 
you  have  said.  My  associations  with  your  lamented 
friend  were  in  Menard  county  whilst  visiting  a 
sister  who  then  resided  near  Petersburg.  I  have 
learned  that  my  maiden  name  is  now  in  your  pos- 
session ;  and  you  have  ere  this,  no  doubt,  been  in- 
formed that  I  am  a  native  Kentuckian." 

The  letters  written  by  Lincoln  not  revealing 
enough  details  of  the  courtship,  I  prepared  a  list  of 
questions  for  the  lady  to  answer  in  order  that  the 
entire  history  of  their  relations  might  be  clearly 
shown.  I  perhaps  pressed  her  too  closely  in  such  a 
delicate  matter,  for  she  responded  in  a  few  days  as 
follows : 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN'.  1 39 

**  Weston,  Mo.,  May  22,  1866. 
"  Mr.  W.  H.  Herndon, 

''My  Dear  Sir:  Really,  you  catechise  me  in 
true  lawyer  style ;  but  I  feel  you  will  have  the 
goodness  to  excuse  me  if  I  decline  answering  all 
your  questions  in  detail,  being  well  assured  that  few 
women  would  have  ceded  as  much  as  I  have  under 
all  the  circumstances. 

"  You  say  you  have  heard  why  our  acquaintance 
terminated  as  it  did.  I  too  have  heard  the  same 
bit  of  gossip  ;  out  I  never  used  the  remark  which 
Madame  Rumor  says  I  did  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  think 
I  did  on  one  occasion  say  to  my  sister,  who  was 
very  anxious  for  us  to  be  married,  that  I  thought 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  deficient  in  those  little  links  which 
make  up  the  chain  of  woman's  happiness — at  least 
it  was  so  in  my  case.  Not  that  I  believed  it  pro- 
ceeded from  a  lack  of  goodness  of  heart ;  but  his 
training  had  been  different  from  mine ;  hence  there 
was  not  that  congeniality  which  would  otherwise 
have  existed. 

"  From  his  own  showing  you  perceive  that  his 
heart  and  hand  were  at  my  disposal ;  and  I  suppose 
that  my  feelings  were  not  sufificiently  enlisted  to 
have  the  matter  consummated.  About  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  1838  I  left  Illinois,  at  which  time 
our  acquaintance  and  correspondence  ceased,  with- 
out ever  again  being  renewed. 

*'  My  father,  who  resided  in  Green  county,  Ken- 
tucky, was  a  gentleman  of  considerable  means  ;  and 
I  am  persuaded  that  few  persons  placed  a  higher 
estimate  on  education  than  he  did. 

"  Respectfully  yours, 

"  Mary  S.  Vineyard." 

The  reference  to  Lincoln's  deficiency  '^  in  those 
little  links  which  make  up  the  chain  of  woman's 
happiness"  is  of  no  little  significance.      It  proved 


I40  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

that  his  training  had  indeed  been  different  from 
hers.  In  a  short  time  I  again  wrote  Mrs.  Vineyard 
to  enquire  as  to  the  truth  of  a  story  current  in  New 
Salem,  that  one  day  as  she  and  Mrs.  Bowlin  Greene 
were  climbing  up  the  hill  to  Abie's  house  they 
were  joined  by  Lincoln ;  that  Mrs.  Greene  was 
obliged  to  carry  her  child,  a  fat  baby  boy,  to  the 
summit ;  that  Lincoln  strolled  carelessly  along, 
offering  no  assistance  to  the  woman  who  bent 
under  the  load.  Thereupon  Miss  Owens,  censuring 
him  for  his  neglect,  reminded  him  that  in  her 
estimation  he  would  not  make  a  good  husband.  In 
due  time  came  her  answer: 

**  Weston,  Mo.,  July  22,  1866. 
**Mr.  W.  H.  Herndon: 

*^Dear  Sir:  I  do  not  think  you  are  pertina- 
cious in  asking  the  question  relative  to  old  Mrs. 
Bowlin  Greene,  because  I  wish  to  set  you  right  on 
that  question.  Your  information,  no  doubt,  came 
through  my  cousin,  Mr.  Gaines  Greene,  who  visited 
us  last  winter.  Whilst  here,  he  was  laughing  at  me 
about  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  among  other  things  spoke 
about  the  circumstance  in  connection  with  Mrs. 
Greene  and  child.  My  impression  is  now  that  I 
tacitly  admitted  it,  for  it  was  a  season  of  trouble 
with  me,  and  I  gave  but  little  heed  to  the  matter. 
We  never  had  any  hard  feelings  towards  each  other 
that  I  know  of.  On  no  occasion  did  I  say  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  that  I  did  not  believe  he  would  make  a 
kind  husband,  because  he  did  not  tender  his  ser- 
vices to  Mrs.  Greene  in  helping  of  her  carry  her 
babe.  As  I  said  to  you  in  a  former  letter,  I 
thought  him  lacking  in  smaller  ^attentions.  One 
circumstance  presents  itself  just  now  to  my  mind's 
eye.     There  was  a  company  of  us  going  to  Uncle 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  I4I 

Billy  Greeners.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  riding  with  me, 
and  we  had  a  very  bad  branch  to  cross.  The  other 
gentlemen  were  very  ofificious  in  seeing  that  their 
partners  got  safely  over.  We  were  behind,  he 
riding  in,  never  looking  back  to  see  how  I  got 
along.     When   I   rode   up  beside  him,  I  remarked, 

*  You  are  a  nice  fellow  !  I  suppose  you  did  not  care 
whether  my  neck  was  broken  or  not.'  He  laugh- 
ingly replied  (I  suppose  by  way  of  compliment),  that 
he  knew  I  was  plenty  smart  to  take  care  of  my- 
self. 

''  In  many  things  he  was  sensitive  almost  to  a 
fault.  He  told  me  of  an  incident :  that  he  was 
crossing  a  prairie  one  day  and  saw  before  him,  ^  a 
hog  mired  down,*  to  use  his  own  language.  He 
was  rather  '  fixed  up,'  and  he  resolved  that  he  would 
pass  on  without  looking  at  the  shoat.  After  he 
had  gone  by,  he  said  the  feeling  was  irresistible  ; 
and  he  had  to  look  back,  and  the  poor  thing  seemed 
to  say  wistfully,  '  There  now,  my  last  hope  is  gone;* 
that  he  deliberately  got  down  and  relieved  it  from 
its  difficulty. 

''  In  many  things  we  were  congenial  spirits.  In 
politics  we  saw  eye  to  eye,  though  since  then  we 
differed  as  widely  as  the  South  is  from  the  North. 
But  methinks  I  hear  you  say,  '  Save  me  from  a 
political  woman  ! '    So  say  I. 

*'The  last  message  I  ever  received  from  him  was 
about  a  year  after  we  parted  in  Illinois.  Mrs.  Able 
visited  Kentucky,  and  he  said  to  her  in  Springfield, 

*  Tell  your  sister  that  I  think  she  was  a  great  fool 
because  she  did  not  stay  here  and  marry  me.' 
Characteristic  of  the  man  ! 

''  Respectfully  yours, 

''  Mary  S.  Vineyard." 

We  have  thus  been  favored  with  the  lady's  side 
of  this  case,  and  it  is  but  fair  that  we   should  hear 


142  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

the  testimony  of  her  honest  but  ungainly  suitor. 
Fortunately  for  us  and  for  history  we  have  his  view 
of  the  case  in  a  series  of  letters  which  have  been 
preserved  with  zealous  care  by  the  lady's  family.* 
The  first  letter  was  written  from  Vandalia,  Decem- 
ber 13,  1836,  where  the  Legislature  to  which  he 
belonged  was  in  session.  After  reciting  the 
progress  of  legislation  and  the  flattering  prospect 
that  then  existed  for  the  removal  of  the  seat  of 
government  to  Springfield,  he  gets  down  to  personal 
matters  by  apprising  her  of  his  illness  for  a  few 
days,  coupled  with  the  announcement  that  he  is 
mortified  by  daily  trips  to  the  post-office  in  quest 
of  her  letter,  which  it  seemed  never  would  arrive. 
**You  see/'  he  complains,  *^  I  am  mad  about  that 
old  letter  yet.  I  don't  like  to  risk  you  again.  Til 
try  you  once  more,  anyhow.''  Further  along  in 
the  course  of  the  missive,  he  says:  *'  You  recollect, 
I  mentioned  at  the  outset  of  this  letter,  that  I  had 
been  unwell.  That  is  the  fact,  though  I  believe  I 
am  about  well  now  ;  but  that,  with  other  things  I 
cannot  account  for,  have  conspired,  and  have  gotten 
my  spirits  so  low  that  I  feel  that  I  would  rather 
be  in  any  place  in  the  world  than  here.  I  really 
cannot  endure  the  thought  of  staying  here  ten 
weeks.  Write  back  as  soon  as  you  get  this,  and  if 
possible,  say  something  that  will  please  me;  for 
really,    I    have   not  been  pleased  since  I   left  you. 


*  The  copies  of  these  letters  were  carefully  made  by  Mr.  WeiJ 
from  the  originals,  now  in  the  possession  of  B.  R.  Vineyard,  St 
Joseph,  Mo. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 43 

This  letter  is  so  dry  and  stupid/*  he  mournfully 
concludes,  **  that  I  am  ashamed  to  send  it,  but  with 
my  present  feelings  I  cannot  do  any  better/' 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Legislature  he 
returned  to  Springfield,  from  which  point  it  was  a 
matter  of  easy  driving  to  reach  New  Salem,  where 
his  lady-love  was  sojourning,  and  where  he  could 
pay  his  addresses  in  person.  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  he  had  by  this  time  removed  to  Spring- 
field, the  county  seat,  and  entered  on  the  practice  of 
the  law.  In  the  gloom  resulting  from  lack  of  funds 
and  the  dim  prospect  for  business,  he  found  time  to 
communicate  with  the  friend  whose  case  was  con- 
stantly uppermost  in  his  mind.  Here  is  one  char- 
acteristic letter : 

"Springfield,  May  7,  1837. 
Friend  Mary  : 

**  I  have  commenced  two  letters  to  send  you 
before  this,  both  of  which  displeased  me  before  I 
got  half  done,  and  so  I  tore  them  up.  The  first  I 
thought  wasn't  serious  enough,  and  the  second  was 
on  the  other  extreme.  I  shall  send  this,  turn  out 
as  it  may. 

''  This  thing  of  living  in  Springfield  is  rather  a  dull 
business  after  all — at  least  it  is  so  to  me.  I  am 
quite  as  lonesome  here  as  [I]  ever  was  anywhere  in 
my  life.  I  have  been  spoken  to  by  but  one  woman 
since  I've  been  here,  and  should  not  have  been  by 
her  if  she  could  have  avoided  it.  I've  never  been 
to  church  yet,  and  probably  shall  not  be  soon.  I 
stay  away  because  I  am  conscious  I  should  not 
know  how  to  behave  myself.  I  am  often  think- 
ing of  what  we  said  of  your  coming  to  live  at 
Springfield.      I  am  afraid  you  would  not  be  satis- 


144  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

fied.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  flourishing  about  in 
carriages  here,  which  it  would  be  your  doom 
to  see  without  sharing  in  it.  You  would  have  to 
be  poor  without  the  means  of  hiding  your  poverty. 
Do  you  believe  you  could  bear  that  patiently  ? 
Whatever  woman  may  cast  her  lot  with  mine, 
should  anyone  ever  do  so,  it  is  my  intention  to  do 
all  in  my  power  to  make  her  happy  and  contented, 
and  there  is  nothing  I  can  imagine  that  would  make 
me  more  unhappy  than  to  fail  in  the  effort.  I 
know  I  should  be  much  happier  with  you  than 
the  way  I  am,  provided  I  saw  no  signs  of  discon- 
tent in  you. 

'*  What  you  have  said  to  me  may  have  been  in 
jest  or  I  may  have  misunderstood  it.  If  so,  then 
let  it  be  forgotton  ;  if  otherwise  I  much  wish  you 
would  think  seriously  before  you  decide.  For  my 
part  I  have  already  decided.  What  I  have  said  I 
will  most  positively  abide  by,  provided  you  wish  it. 
My  opinion  is  you  had  better  not  do  it.  You  have 
not  been  accustomed  to  hardship,  and  it  may  be 
more  severe  than  you  imagine.  I  know  you  are 
capable  of  thinking  correctly  on  any  subject  ;  and 
if  you  deliberate  maturely  upon  this  before  you 
decide,  then  I  am  willing  to  abide  your  decision. 

'*  You  must  write  me  a  good  long  letter  after  you 
get  this.  You  have  nothing  else  to  do,  and  though 
it  might  not  seem  interesting  to  you  after  you  have 
written  it,  it  would  be  a  good  deal  of  company  in 
this  busy  wilderness.  Tell  your  sister  I  don't  want 
to  hear  any  more  about  selling  out  and  moving. 
That  gives  me  the  hypo  whenever  I  think  of  it. 

**  Yours,  etc. 
''  Lincoln.'^ 

Very  few  if  any  men  can  be  found  who  in  fond 
pursuit  of  their  love  would  present  their  case 
voluntarily  in  such  an  unfavorable    light.      In    one 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 45 

breath  he  avows  his  affection  for  the  lady  whose 
image  is  constantly  before  him,  and  in  the  next 
furnishes  her  reasons  why  she  ought  not  to  marry 
him  !  During  the  warm,  dry  summer  months  he 
kept  up  the  siege  without  apparent  diminution  of 
zeaL  He  was  as  assiduous  as  ever,  and  in  August 
was  anxious  to  force  a  decision.  On  the  i6th  he  had 
a  meeting  with  her  which  terminated  much  like 
a  drawn  battle— at  least  it  seems  to  have  afforded 
him  but  little  encouragement,  for  on  his  return  to 
Springfield  he  immediately  indulged  in  an  epistolary 
effusion  stranger  than  any  that  preceded  it. 

''  Friend  Mary  : 

''  You  will  no  doubt  think  it  rather  strange  that  I 
should  write  you  a  letter  on  the  s^me  day  on  which 
we  parted  ;  and  I  can  only  account  for  it  by  sup- 
posing that  seeing  you  lately  makes  me  think  of 
you  more  than  usual,  while  at  our  late  meeting  we 
had  but  few  expressions  of  thoughts.  You  must 
know  that  I  cannot  see  you  or  think  of  you  with 
entire  indifference  ;  and  yet  it  may  be  that  you  are 
mistaken  in  regard  to  what  my  real  feelings  towards 
you  are.  If  I  knew  you  were  not,  I  should  not 
trouble  you  with  this  letter.  Perhaps  any  other 
man  would  know  enough  without  further  informa- 
tion, but  I  consider  it  my  peculiar  right  to  plead 
ignorance  and  your  bounden  duty  to  allow  the  plea. 

**  I  want  in  all  cases  to  do  right ;  and  most  particu- 
larly so  in  all  cases  with  women.  I  want,  at  this 
particular  time,  more  than  anything  else,  to  do 
right  with  you,  and  if  I  knew  it  would  be  doing 
right,  as  I  rather  suspect  it  would,  to  let  you  alone,  I 
would  do  it.  And  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
matter  as  plain  as  possible,  I  now  say,  that  you  can 
now  drop  the  subject,  dismiss  your  thoughts  (if  you 


146  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

ever  had  any)  from  me  forever,  and  leave  this  letter 
unanswered,  without  calling  forth  one  accusing  mur- 
mur from  me.  And  I  will  even  go  farther,  and  say, 
that  if  it  will  add  anything  to  your  comfort  or 
peace  of  mind  to  do  so,  it  is  my  sincere  wish  that 
you  should.  Do  not  understand  by  this  that  I  wish 
to  cut  your  acquaintance.  I  mean  no  such  thing. 
What  I  do  wish  is  that  our  further  acquaintance 
shall  depend  upon  yourself.  If  such  further  ac- 
quaintance would  contribute  nothing  to  your  happi- 
ness, I  am  sure  it  would  not  to  mine.  If  you  feel 
yourself  in  any  degree  bound  to  me,  I  am  now  will- 
ing to  release  you,  provided  you  wish  it  ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  am  willing  and  even  anxious  to 
bind  you  faster  if  I  can  be  convinced  that  it  will 
in  any  considerable  degree  add  to  your  happiness. 
This,  indeed,  is  the  whole  question  with  me.  Noth- 
ing would  make  me  more  miserable,  nothing  more 
happy,  than  to  know  you  were  so. 

''  In  what  I  have  now  said,  I  think  I  cannot  be 
misunderstood  ;  and  to  make  myself  understood  is 
the  sole  object  of  this  letter. 

'*  If  it  suits  you  best  to  not  answer  this — farewell 
— a  long  life  and  a  merry  one  attend  you.  But  if 
you  conclude  to  write  back,  speak  as  plainly  as  I  do. 
There  can  be  neither  harm  nor  danger  in  saying 
to  me  anything  you  think,  just  in  the  manner  you 
think  it. 

**  My  respects  to  your  sister. 

"  Your  friend, 

''  Lincoln." 

For  an  account  of  the  final  outcome  of  this 
affaire  du  cceur  the  reader  is  now  referred  to  the 
most  ludicrous  letter  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  wrote.  It 
has  been  said,  but  with  how  much  truth  I  do  not 
know,  that  during  his  term  as  President  the  lady  to 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  147 

whom  it  was  written — Mrs.  O.  H.  Browning,  wife  o\ 
a  fellow-member  of  the  Legislature — before  giving 
a  copy  of  it  to  a  biographer,  wrote  to  Lincoln  asking 
his  consent  to  the  publication,  but  that  he  answered 
warning  her  against  it  because  it  was  too  full  of 
truth.  The  only  biographer  who  ever  did  insert  it 
apologized  for  its  appearance  in  his  book,  regarding 
it  for  many  reasons  as  an  extremely  painful  duty. 
**  If  it  could  be  withheld,''  he  laments,  "  and  the 
act  decently  reconciled  to  the  conscience  of  a  biog- 
rapher^ professing  to  be  honest  and  candid,  it 
should  never  see  the  light  in  these  pages.  Its  gro- 
tesque humor,  its  coarse  exaggerations  in  describing 
the  person  of  a  lady  whom  the  writer  was  willing  to 
marry  ;  its  imputation  of  toothless  and  weather- 
beaten  old  age  to  a  woman  really  young  and  hand- 
some ;  its  utter  lack  of  that  delicacy  of  tone  and 
sentiment  which  one  naturally  expects  a  gentleman 
to  adopt  when  he  thinks  proper  to  discuss  the 
merits  of  his  late  mistress — all  these,  and  its  defec- 
tive orthography,  it  would  certainly  be  more  agree- 
able to  suppress  than  to  publish.  But  if  we  begin 
by  omitting  or  mutilating  a  document  which  sheds 
so  broad  a  light  upon  one  part  of  his  life  and  one 
phase  of  his  character,  why  may  we  not  do  the  like 
as  fast  and  as  often  as  the  temptation  arises  ?  and 
where  shall  the  process  cease?  " 

I  prefer  not  to  take  such  a  serious  view  of  the 
letter  or  its  publication.  My  idea  is,  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  got  into  one  of  his  irresistible  moods  of 
humor  and  fun — a  state   of  feeling  into  which  he 

*Lamon,  p.  i8i. 


148  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

frequently  worked  himself  to  avert  the  overwhelm- 
ing effects  of  his  constitutional  melancholy — and  in 
the  inspiration  of  the  moment  penned  this  letter, 
which  many  regard  as  an  unfortunate  composition. 
The  class  who  take  such  a  gloomy  view  of  the 
matter  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  letter  was 
written  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  fervor  of  early  man- 
hood, just  as  he  was  emerging  from  a  most  embar. 
rassing  situation,  and  addressed  to  a  friend  who,  he 
supposed,  would  keep  it  sacredly  sealed  from  the 
public  eye.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
not  gifted  with  a  ready  perception  of  the  propriety 
of  things  in  all  cases.  Nothing  with  him  was 
intuitive.  To  have  profound  judgment  and  just 
discrimination  he  required  time  to  think ;  and  if 
facts  or  events  were  forced  before  him  in  too  rapid 
succession  the  machinery  of  his  judgment  failed  to 
work.  A  knowledge  of  this  fact  will  account  for 
the  letter,  and  also  serve  to  rob  the  offence — if  any 
was  committed — of  half  its  severity. 

The  letter  was  written  in  the  same  month  Miss 
Owens  made  her  final  departure  from  Illinois. 

''Springfield,  April  i,  1838. 
'*Dear  Madam: — 

'*  Without  apologizing  for  being  egotistical,  I 
shall  make  the  history  of  so  much  of  my  life  as 
has  elapsed  since  I  saw  you  the  subject  of  this 
letter.  And,  by  the  way,  I  now  discover  that,  in 
order  to  give  a  full  and  intelligible  account  of  the 
things  I  have  done  and  suffered  since  I  saw  you,  I 
shall  necessarily  have  to  relate  some  that  happened 
before. 

"  It  was,  then,  in  the  autumn  of  1836  that  a  mar* 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 49 

fied  lady  of  my  acquaintance  and  who  was  a  great 
friend  of  mine,  being  about  to  pay  a  visit  to  her 
father  and  other  relatives  residing  in  Kentucky, 
proposed  to  me  that  on  her  return  she  would  bring 
a  sister  of  hers  with  her  on  condition  that  I  would 
engage  to  become  her  brother-in-law  with  all  con- 
venient despatch.  I,  of  course,  accepted  the  pro- 
posal, for  you  know  I  could  not  have  done  other- 
wise, had  I  really  been  averse  to  it ;  but  privately^ 
between  you  and  me  I  was  most  confoundedly  well 
pleased  with  the  project.  I  had  seen  the  said  sister 
some  three  years  before,  thought  her  intelligent 
and  agreeable,  and  saw  no  good  objection  to  plod- 
ding life  through  hand  in  hand  with  her.  Time 
passed  on,  the  lady  took  her  journey,  and  in  due 
time  returned,  sister  in  company  sure  enough.  This 
astonished  me  a  little ;  for  it  appeared  to  me  that 
her  coming  so  readily  showed  that  she  was  a  trifle 
too  willing  ;  but,  on  reflection,  it  occurred  to  me 
that  she  might  have  been  prevailed  on  by  her  mar- 
ried sister  to  come,  without  anything  concerning 
me  ever  having  been  mentioned  to  her  ;  and  so  I 
concluded  that,  if  no  other  objection  presented 
itself,  I  would  consent  to  waive  this.  All  this 
occurred  to  me  on  hearing  of  her  arrival  in  the 
neighborhood;  for,  be  it  remembered,  I  had  not  yet 
seen  her,  except  about  three  years  previous,  as 
above  mentioned.  In  a  few  days  we  had  an  inter- 
view ;  and,  although  I  had  seen  her  before,  she  did 
not  look  as  my  imagination  had  pictured  her.  I 
knew  she  was  over-size,  but  she  now  appeared  a  fair 
match  for  Falstaff.  I  knew  she  was  called  an  '  old 
maid,'  and  I  felt  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  at  least 
half  of  the  appellation  ;  but  now,  when  I  beheld  her, 
i  eould  not  for  my  life  avoid  thinking  of  my 
mother  ;  and  this,  not  from  withered  features,  for 
her  skin  was  too  full  of  fat  to  permit  of  its  contract- 
ing   into    wrinkles,    but    from    her   want    of    teeth. 


i  50  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

weather-beaten  appearance  in  general,  and  from  a 
kind  of  notion  that  ran  in  my  head  that  nothing 
could  have  commenced  at  the  size  of  infancy  and 
reached  her  present  bulk  in  less  than  thirty-five  or 
forty  years ;  and,  in  short,  I  was  not  at  all  pleased 
with  her.  But  what  could  I  do  ?  I  had  told  her 
fiister  I  would  take  her  for  better  or  for  worse  ;  and 
\  made  a  point  of  honor  and  conscience  in  all  things 
to  stick  to  my  word,  especially  if  others  had  been 
.induced  to  act  on  it,  which  in  this  case  I  had  no 
doubt  they  had ;  for  I  was  now  fairly  convinced 
that  no  other  man  on  earth  would  have  her,  and 
hence  the  conclusion  that  they  were  bent  on  hold- 
ing me  to  my  bargain.  *  Well,*  thought  I,  *  I  have 
said  it,  and,  be  the  consequences  what  they  may,  it 
shall  not  be  my  fault  if  I  fail  to  do  it.*  At  once  I 
determined  to  consider  her  my  wife;  and,  this  done, 
all  my  powers  of  discovery  were  put  to  work  in 
search  of  perfections  in  her  which  might  be  fairly 
set  off  against  her  defects.  I  tried  to  imagine  her 
handsome,  which,  but  for  her  unfortunate  corpu- 
lency, was  actually  true.  Exclusive  of  this,  no 
woman  that  I  have  ever  seen  has  a  finer  face.  I 
also  tried  to  convince  myself  that  the  mind  was 
much  more  to  be  valued  than  the  person  ;  and  in 
this  she  was  not  inferior,  as  I  could  discover,  to  any 
with  whom  I  had  been  acquainted. 

**  Shortly  after  this,  without  coming  to  any  posi- 
tive understanding  with  her,  I  set  out  for  Vandalia, 
when  and  where  you  first  saw  me.  During  my  stay 
there  I  had  letters  from  her  which  did  not  change 
my  opinion  of  either  her  intellect  or  intention,  but 
on  the  contrary  confirmed  it  in  both. 

**  All  this  while,  although  I  was  fixed,  '  firm  as 
the  surge-repqlling  rock,*  in  my  resolution,  I  found 
I  was  continually  repenting  the  rashness  which  had 
led  me  to  make  it.  Through  life,  I  have  been  in 
no  bondage,  either  real  or  imaginary,  from  the  thral- 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  I  5  I 

dom  of  which  I  so  much  desired  to  be  free.  After 
my  return  home,  I  saw  nothing  to  change  my  opin- 
ions of  her  in  any  particular.  She  was  the  same, 
and  so  was  I.  I  now  spent  my  time  in  planning  how 
I  might  get  along  through  life  after  my  contem- 
plated change  of  circumstances  should  have  taken 
place,  and  how  I  might  procrastinate  the  evil  day 
for  a  time,  which  I  really  dreaded  as  much,  perhaps 
more,  than  an  Irishman  does  the  halter. 

**  After  all  my  suffering  upon  this  deeply  interest- 
ing subject,  here  I  am,  wholly,  unexpectedly,  com- 
pletely, out  of  the  '  scrape ' ;  and  now  I  want  to 
know  if  you  can  guess  how  I  got  out  of  it — out, 
clear,  in  every  sense  of  the  term  ;  no  violation  of 
word,  honor,  or  conscience.  I  don^t  believe  you  can 
guess,  and  so  I  might  as  well  tell  you  at  once.  As 
the  lawyer  says,  it  was  done  in  the  manner  follow- 
ing, to-wit  :  After  I  had  delayed  the  matter  as  long 
as  I  thought  I  could  in  honor  do  (which,  by  the 
way,  had  brought  me  round  into  the  last  fall),  I 
concluded  I  might  as  well  bring  it  to  a  consumma- 
tion without  further  delay  ;  and  so  I  mustered  my 
resolution,  and  made  the  proposal  to  her  direct  ; 
but,  shocking  to  relate,  she  answered.  No.  At  first 
I  supposed  she  did  it  through  an  affectation  of 
modesty,  which  I  thought  but  ill  became  her  under 
the  peculiar  circumstances  of  her  case  ;  but  on  my 
renewal  of  the  charge,  I  found  she  repelled  it  with 
greater  firmness  than  before.  I  tried  it  again  and 
again,  but  with  the  same  success,  or  rather  with  the 
same  want  of  success. 

''  I  finally  was  forced  to  give  it  up  ;  at  which  I 
very  unexpectedly  found  myself  mortified  almost 
beyond  endurance.  I  was  mortified,  it  seemed  to 
me,  in  a  hundred  different  ways.  My  vanity  was 
deeply  wounded  by  the  reflection  that  I  had  been 
too  stupid  to  discover  her  intentions,  and  at  the 
same  time  never  doubting  that  I  understood  them 


152  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

perfectly  ;  and  also  that  she,  whom  I  had  taught 
myself  to  believe  nobody  else  would  have,  had 
actually  rejected  me  with  all  my  fancied  greatness. 
And,  to  cap  the  whole,  I  then  for  the  first  time 
began  to  suspect  that  I  was  really  a  little  in  love 
with  her.  But  let  it  all  go.  I'll  try  and  outlive 
it.  Others  have  been  made  fools  of  by  the  girls  ; 
but  this  can  never  with  truth  be  said  of  me.  I 
most  emphatically,  in  this  instance,  made  a  fool  of 
myself.  I  have  now  come  to  the  conclusion  never 
again  to  think  of  marrying,  and  for  this  reason :  I 
can  never  be  satisfied  with  any  one  who  would  be 
blockhead  enough  to  have   me. 

*'  When  you  receive  this,  write  me  a  long  yarn 
about  something  to  amuse  me.  Give  my  respects 
to  Mr.  Browning. 

**  Your  sincere  friend, 

"  A.  Lincoln." 

Mrs.  O.  H.  Browning. 

As  before  mentioned  Miss  Owens  was  afterwards 
married  and  became  the  mother  of  five  children. 
Two  of  her  sons  served  in  the  Confederate  army. 
She  died  July  4,  1877.  Speaking  of  Mr.  Lincoln  a 
a  short  time  before  her  death  she  referred  to  him  as 
''  a  man  with  a  heart  full  of  kindness  and  a  head  full 
of  sense." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

In  December,  1834,  Lincoln  prepared  himself  for 
the  Legislature  to  which  he  had  been  elected  by 
such  a  complimentary  majority.  Through  the  gen- 
erosity  of  his  friend  Smoot  he  purchased  a  new  suit 
of  clothes,  and  entering  the  stage  at  New  Salem, 
rode  through  to  Vandalia,  the  seat  of  government. 
He  appreciated  the  dignity  of  his  new  position,  and 
instead  of  walking  to  the  capitol,  as  some  of  his 
biographers  have  contended,  availed  himself  of  the 
usual  mode  of  travel.  At  this  session  of  the  Legis- 
lature  he  was  anything  but  conspicuous.  In  reality 
he  was  very  modest,  but  shrewd  enough  to  impress 
the  force  of  his  character  on  those  persons  whose 
influence  might  some  day  be  of  advantage  to  him. 
He  made  but  little  stir,  if  we  are  to  believe  the 
record,  during  the  whole  of  this  first  session.  Made 
a  member  of  the  committee  on  Public  Accounts 
and  Expenditures,  his  name  appears  so  seldom  in 
the  reports  of  the  proceedings  that  we  are  prone  to 
conclude  that  he  must  have  contented  himself  with 
listening  to  the  flashes  of  border  oratory  and  ab- 
sorbing his  due  proportion  of  parliamentary  law. 
He  was  reserved  in  manner,  but  very  observant ; 
said  little,  but  learned  much  ;  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  all  the  members  and  many  influential  per- 

153 


1 54  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

sons  on  the  outside.  The  lobby  at  that  day  con- 
tained the  representative  men  of  the  state — men  of 
acknowledged  prominence  and  respectability,  many 
of  them  able  lawyers,  drawn  thither  in  advocacy 
of  some  pet  bill.  Schemes  of  vast  internal  im- 
provements attracted  a  retinue  of  log-rollers,  who 
in  later  days  seem  to  have  been  an  indispensable 
necessity  in  the  movement  of  complicated  legisla- 
tive  machinery.  Men  of  capital  and  brains  were 
there.  He  early  realized  the  im.portance  of  know- 
ing all  these,  trusting  to  the  inspiration  of  some 
future  hour  to  impress  them  with  his  skill  as  an 
organizer  or  his  power  as  an  orator.  Among  the 
members  of  the  outside  or  *'  third  body "  was 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  whom  Lincoln  then  saw  for 
the  first  time.  Douglas  had  come  from  Vermont 
only  the  year  before,  but  was  already  undertaking 
to  supplant  John  J.  Hardin  in  the  office  of  States 
Attorney  for  the  district  in  which  both  lived. 
What  impression  he  made  on  Lincoln,  what  opin- 
ions each  formed  of  the  other,  or  what  the  extent 
of  their  acquaintance  then  was,  we  do  not  know.  It 
is  said  that  Lincoln  afterwards  in  mentioning  their 
first  meeting  observed  of  the  newly-arrived  Ver- 
monter  that  he  was  the  ^*  least  man  he  had  ever 
seen.*'  The  Legislature  proper  contained  the  youth 
and  blood  and  fire  of  the  frontier.  Some  of  the 
men  who  participated  in  these  early  parliament- 
ary battles  were  destined  to  carry  the  banners 
of  great  political  parties,  some  to  lead  in  war  and 
some  in  the  great  council  chamber  of  the  nation. 
Some  were  to  fill  the  Governor's  office,  others  to 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  I  5  5 

wear  the  judicial  ermine,  and  one  was  destined  to 
be  Chief  Magistrate  and  die  a  martyr  to  the  cause 
of  human  liberty. 

The  society  of  Vandalia  and  the  people  attracted 
thither  by  the  Legislature  made  it»  for  that  early 
day,  a  gay  place  indeed.  Compared  to  Lincoln's 
former  environments,  it  had  no  lack  of  refinement 
and  polish.  That  he  absorbed  a  good  deal  of  this 
by  contact  with  the  men  and  women  who  sur- 
rounded him  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  '*  drift  of 
sentiment  and  the  sweep  of  civilization "  at  this 
time  can  best  be  measured  by  the  character  of  the 
legislation.  There  were  acts  to  incorporate  banks, 
turnpikes,  bridges,  insurance  companies,  towns, 
railroads,  and  female  academies.  The  vigor  and 
enterprise  of  New  England  fusing  with  the  illusory 
prestige  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia  was  fast  forming 
a  new  civilization  to  spread  over  the  prairies ! 
At  this  session  Lincoln  remained  quietly  in  the 
background,  and  contented  himself  with  the  intro- 
duction of  a  resolution  in  favor  of  securing  to  the 
State  a  part  of  the  proceeds  of  sales  of  public  landg 
within  its  limits.  With  this  brief  and  modest  rec- 
ord he  returned  to  his  constituents  at  New  Salem. 
With  zealous  perseverance,  he  renewed  his  applica- 
tion to  the  law  and  to  surveying,  continuing  his 
studies  in  both  departments  until  he  became,  as  he 
thought,  reliable  and  proficient.  By  reason  of  a 
change  in  the  office  of  Surveyor  for  the  county 
he  became  a  deputy  under  Thomas  M.  Neale,  who 
had  been  elected  to  succeed  John  Calhoun.  The 
speculation  in  lands  made  a  brisk  business  for  the    / 

/ 


1 56  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN-, 

new  surveyor,  who  even  added  Calhoun,  his  prede- 
cessor, to  the  list  of  deputies.  Lincoln  had  now 
become  somewhat  established  in  the  good-will  and 
respect  of  his  constituents.  His  bashfulness  and 
timidity  was  gradually  giving  way  to  a  feeling  of 
self-confidence,  and  he  began  to  exult  over  his  abil- 
ity to  stand  alone.  The  brief  taste  of  public  office 
which  he  had  just  enjoyed,  and  the  distinction  it 
gave  him  only  whetted  his  appetite  for  further  hon- 
ors. Accordingly,  in  1836  we  find  him  a  candidate 
for  the  Legislature  again.  I  well  remember  this 
campaign  and  the  election  which  followed,  for  my 
father,  Archer  G,  Herndon,  was  also  a  candidate, 
aspiring  to  a  seat  in  the  State  Senate.  The  Leg- 
islature at  the  session  previous  had  in  its  apportion- 
ment bill  increased  the  delegation  from  Sangamon 
county  to  seven  Representatives  and  two  Sena- 
tors. Party  conventions  had  not  yet  been  invented, 
and  there  being  no  nominating  machinery  to  in- 
terfere, the  field  was  open  for  any  and  all  to  run. 
Lincoln  again  resorted,  in  opening  his  canvass,  to 
the  medium  of  the  political  handbill.  Although  it 
had  not  operated  with  the  most  satisfactory  results 
in  his  first  campaign,  yet  he  felt  willing  to  risk  it 
again.  Candidates  of  that  day  evinced  far  more 
willingness  to  announce  their  position  than  political 
aspirants  do  now.  Without  waiting  for  a  conven- 
tion to  construct  a  platform,  or  some  great  politi- 
cal leader  to  ''  sound  the  key-note  of  the  campaign," 
they  stepped  to  the  forefront  and  blew  the  bugle 
themselves.  This  custom  will  account  for  the  bold- 
ness of  Lincoln^s   utterances  and   the   unequivocal 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  I  5/ 

tone  of  his  declarations.     His  card — a  sort  of  politi- 
cal fulmination — was  as  follows  : 

"New  Salem,  June  13,  1836. 
**  To  the  Editor  of  The  Journal  : 

**  In  your  paper  of  last  Saturday  I  see  a  com- 
munication over  the  signature  of  ''  Many  Voters  '* 
in  which  the  candidates  who  are  announced  in  the 
Journal  are  called  upon  to  *  show  their  hands/ 
Agreed.     Here's  mine  : 

"  I  go  for  all  sharing  the  privileges  of  the  govern- 
ment who  assist  in  bearing  its  burdens.  Conse- 
quently, I  go  for  admitting  all  whites  to  the  right 
of  suffrage  who  pay  taxes  or  bear  arms  (by  no 
means  excluding  females). 

"  If  elected  I  shall  consider  the  whole  people  of 
Sangamon  my  constituents,  as  well  those  that 
oppose  as  those  that  support  me. 

**  While  acting  as  their  Representative,  I  shall  be 
governed  by  their  will  on  all  subjects  upon  which  I 
have  the  means  of  knowing  what  their  will  is  ;  and 
upon  all  others  I  shall  do  what  my  own  judg- 
ment teaches  me  will  best  advance  their  interests. 
Whether  elected  or  not,  I  go  for  distributing  the 
proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public  lands  to  the  several 
States  to  enable  our  State,  in  common  with  others, 
to  dig  canals  and  construct  railroads  without  bor- 
rowing money  and  paying  the  interest  on  it. 

'*If  alive  on   the  first   Monday  in  November,   I 
shall  vote  for  Hugh  L.  White,  for  President. 
*'  Very  respectfully, 

*^A.  Lincoln.*' 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  bold  and  decided 
stand  Lincoln  took — though  too  audacious  and 
emphatic  for  statesmen  of  a  later  day — suited  the 
temper   of   the    times.     Leaving   out    of   sight    his 


r 


158  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

expressed  preference  for  White  of  Tennessee, — on 
whom  all  the  anti-Jackson  forces  were  disposed  to 
concentrate,  and  which  was  but  a  mere  question  of 
men, — there  is  much  food  for  thought  in  the  second 
paragraph.  His  broad  plan  for  universal  suffrage 
certainly  commends  itself  to  the  ladies,  and  we  need 
no  further  evidence  to  satisfy  our  minds  of  his  posi- 
tion on  the  subject  of  '*  Woman's  Rights/'  had  he 
lived.  In  fact,  I  cannot  refrain  from  noting  here 
what  views  he  in  after  years  held  with  reference  to 
the  great  questions  of  moral  and  social  reforms, 
under  which  he  classed  universal  suffrage,  temper- 
ance, and  slavery.  "All  such  questions,'*  he  ob- 
served one  day,  as  wc  were  discussing  temperance 
in  the  office,  **  must  first  find  lodgment  with  the  most 
enlightened  souls  who  stamp  them  with  their  ap- 
proval. In  God's  own  time  they  will  be  organized 
into  law  and  thus  woven  into  the  fabric  of  our  in- 
stitutions." 

The  canvass  which  followed  this  public  avowal  of 
creed,  was  more  exciting  than  any  which  had  pre- 
ceded it.  There  were  joint  discussions,  and,  at 
times,  much  feeling  was  exhibited.  Each  candidate 
had  his  friends  freely  distributed  through  the  crowd, 
and  it  needed  but  a  few  angry  interruptions  or 
insinuating  rejoinders  from  one  speaker  to  another 
to  bring  on  a  conflict  between  their  friends.  Pre- 
quently  the  speakers  led  in  the  battle  themselves, 
as  in  the  case  of  Ninian  W.  Edwards — afterwards  a 
brother-in-law  of  Lincoln — who,  in  debate,  drew  a 
pistol  on  his  opponent  Achilles  Morris,  a  prominent 
Democrat.       An  interesting   relic   of   this   canvas*? 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 59 

recently  came  to  light,  in  a  letter  which  Mr.  Lin- 
coin  wrote  a  week  after  he  had  announced  his  can- 
didacy. It  is  addressed  to  Colonel  Robert  Allen, 
a  Democratic  politician  of  local  prominence,  who 
had  been  circulating  some  charges  intended  to 
affect  Lincoln's  chances  of  election.  The  affair 
brought  to  the  surface  what  little  satire  there  was 
in  Lincoln's  nature,  and  he  administers— -by  way  of 
innuendo — such  a  flaying  as  the  gallant  colonel 
doubtless  never  wanted  to  have  repeated.  The 
strangest  part  of  it  all  is  that  the  letter  was 
recently  found  and  given  to  the  public  by  Allen's 
own  son.*     It  is  as  follows  : 

''New  Salem,  June  21,  1836. 
**  Dear  Colonel: 

*'  I  am  told  that  during  my  absence  last  week 
you  passed  through  the  place  and  stated  publicly 
that  you  were  in  possession  of  a  fact  or  facts, 
which  if  known  to  the  public  would  entirely  destroy 
the  prospects  of  N.  W.  Edwards  and  myself  at  the 
ensuing  election,  but  that  through  favor  to  us 
you  would  forbear  to  divulge  them.  No  one  has 
needed  favors  more  than  I,  and  generally  few  have 
been  less  unwilling  to  accept  them,  but  in  this  case 
favor  to  me  would  be  injustice  to  the  public,  and 
therefore  I  must  beg  your  pardon  for  declining 
it.  That  I  once  had  the  confidence  of  the  people 
of  Sangamon  county  is  sufficiently  evident  ;  and  if  I 
have  done  anything,  either  by  design  or  misadven- 
ture, which  if  known  would  subject  me  to  a  forfeit- 
ure of  that  confidence,  he  that  knows  of  that  thing, 
and  conceals  it,  is  a  traitor  to  his  country's  interest. 

*  The  MS.  is  now  in  possession  of  the  Lincoln  Monument  Asso- 
ciation of  Springfield. 


l6o  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

"  I  find  myself  wholly  unable  to  form  any  conjee- 
ture  of  what  fact  or  facts,  real  or  supposed,  you 
spoke  ;  but  my  opinion  of  your  veracity  will  not 
permit  me  for  a  moment  to  doubt  that  you  at  least 
believed  what  you  said.  I  am  flattered  with  the 
personal  regard  you  manifested  for  me  ;  but  I  do 
hope  that  on  mature  reflection  you  will  view  the 
public  interest  as  a  paramount  consideration  and 
therefore  let  the  worst  come. 

'*  I  assure  you  that  the  candid  statement  of  facts 
on  your  part,  however  low  it  may  sink  me,  shall 
never  break  the  ties  of  personal  friendship  between 
us. 

*'  I  wish  an  answer  to  this,.and  you  are  at  liberty 
to  publish  both  if  you  choose. 

*'  Very  respectfully, 
*'A.  Lincoln.'' 

Col.  Robert  Allen. 

Lincoln  was  sure  the  letter  never  would  be 
published  or  answered,  because  Allen  had  no  facts 
whatever  upon  which  to  base  any  such  charges. 
He  also  knew  that  Allen,  who  was  a  hide-bound 
Democrat,  was  in  politics  the  most  unreliable 
man  in  Sangamon  county.  A  vein  of  irony  runs 
all  through  the  letter,  especially  where  in  such  a 
delicate  way  he  pays  tribute  to  the  veracity  of 
Allen,  who,  although  a  generous  fellow  in  the  ordi- 
nary sense  of  the  term,  was  unlimited  in  exaggera- 
tion and  a  veritable  bag  of  wind.  The  effort  to 
smoke  him  out  seems  to  have  been  of  little  effect, 
but  enough  appears  in  Lincoln's  letter  to  show 
that  he  was  thoroughly  warmed  up. 

A  joint  debate  in  which  all  the  candidates  partic- 
ipated, took  place  on  the   Saturday  preceding  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  t6i 

election.  ''  The  speaking  began  in  the  forenoon," 
says  one  of  the  participants,  *'  the  candidates  speak- 
ing alternately  until  everyone  who  could  speak  had 
had  his  turn,  generally  consuming  the  whole  after- 
noon/*  Dr.  Early,  a  Democratic  candidate,  in  his 
speech  took  issue  with  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  stigma- 
tizing  some  of  the  latter's  statements  as  untrue. 
This  brought  Edwards  to  his  feet  with  a  similar 
retort.  His  angry  tone  and  menacing  manner,  as 
he  mounted  a  table  and  with  clenched  fist  hurled 
defiance  at  his  challenger,  foreboded  a  tumultuous 
scene.  ^' The  excitement  that  followed,"  relates 
another  one  of  the  candidates,"^  ^*  was  intense — so 
much  so  that  fighting  men  thought  a  duel  must  settle 
the  difficulty.  Mr.  Lincoln  by  the  programme  fol- 
lowed Early.  Taking  up  the  subject  in  dispute,  he 
handled  it  so  fairly  and  with  such  ability,  all  were 
astonished  and  pleased."  The  turbulent  spirits 
were  quieted  and  the  difficulty  was  easily  overcome. 
Lincoln's  friend  Joshua  F.  Speed  relates  that  dur- 
ing this  campaign  he  made  a  speech  in  Springfield 
a  few  days  before  the  election.  *'  The  crowd  was 
large,"  says  Speed,  '*  and  great  numbers  of  his 
friends  and  admirers  had  come  in  from  the  country. 
I  remember  that  his  speech  was  a  very  able  one, 
using  with  great  power  and  originality  all  the  argu- 
ments used  to  sustain  the  principles  of  the  Whig 
party  as  against  its  great  rival,  the  Democratic 
party  of  that  day.  The  speech  produced  a  pro- 
found    impression — the     crowd     was    with     him. 

*  R.  L.  Wilson,  letter,  Feb.  lo,  1866,  MS. 


1 62  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

George  Forquer,  an  old  citizen,  a  man  of  recognized 
prominence  and  ability  as  a  lawyer,  was  present. 
Forquer  had  been  a  Whig — one  of  the  champions 
of  the  party — but  had  then  recently  joined  the 
Democratic  party,  and  almost  simultaneous  with 
the  change  had  been  appointed  Register  of  the 
Land  Office,  which  oflfice  he  then  held.  Just 
about  that  time  Mr.  Forquer  had  completed  a  neat 
frame  house — the  best  house  then  in  Springfield — 
and  over  it  had  erected  a  lightning  rod,  the  only 
one  in  the  place  and  the  first  one  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
ever  seen.  He  afterwards  told  me  that  seeing  For- 
quer's  lightning  rod  had  led  him  to  the  study  of  the 
properties  of  electricity  and  the  utility  of  the  rod 
as  a  conductor.  At  the  conclusion  of  Lincoln^s 
speech  the  crowd  was  about  dispersing,  when  For- 
quer rose  and  asked  to  be  heard.  He  commenced 
by  saying  that  the  young  man  would  have  to  be 
taken  down,  and  was  sorry  the  task  devolved  on 
him.  He  then  proceeded  to  answer  Lincoln*s 
speech  in  a  style  which,  while  it  was  able  and  fair, 
in  his  whole  manner  asserted  and  claimed  superi- 
ority.*' Lincoln  stood  a  few  steps  away  with  arms 
folded,  carefully  watching  the  speaker  and  taking  in 
everything  he  said.  He  was  laboring  under  a  good 
deal  of  suppressed  excitement.  Forquer's  sting 
had  roused  the  lion  within  him.  At  length  For- 
quer concluded,  and  he  mounted  the  stand  to  reply. 
**  I  have  heard  him  often  since,*'  continued  Speed, 
*'  in  the  courts  and  before  the  people,  but  never  saw 
him  appear  and  acquit  himself  so  well  as  upon  that 
occasion.     His  reply  to   Forquer  was  characterized 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 63 

by  great  dignity  and  force.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
conclusion  of  that  speech :  '  Mr.  Forquer  com- 
menced his  speech  by  announcing  that  the  young 
man  would  have  to  be  taken  down.  It  is  for  you, 
fellow  citizens,  not  for  me  to  say  whether  I  am  up 
or  down.  The  gentleman  has  seen  fit  to  allude  to 
my  being  a  young  man ;  but  he  forgets  that  I  am 
older  in  years  than  I  am  in  the  tricks  and  trades  of 
politicians.  I  desire  to  live,  and  I  desire  place  and 
distinction  ;  but  I  would  rather  die  now  than,  like 
the  gentleman,  live  to  see  the  day  that  I  would 
change  my  politics  for  an  office  worth  three  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year,  and  then  feel  compelled  to  erect 
a  lightning  rod  to  protect  a  guilty  conscience  from 
an  offended  God.'  '*  The  effect  of  this  rejoinder  was 
wonderful,  and  gave  Forquer  and  his  lightning 
rod  a  notoriety  the  extent  of  which  no  one  envied 
him. 

In  the  election  which  followed,  Sangamon  county 
in  a  political  sense  was  entirely  turned  over.  Hith- 
erto the  Democrats  had  always  carried  it,  but  now 
the  Whigs  gained  control  by  an  average  majority  of 
four  hundred.  This  time  Lincoln  led  his  ticket. 
The  nine  elected  were,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Ninian 
W.  Edwards,  John  Dawson,  Andrew  McCormick, 
Dan  Stone,  Wm.  F.  Elkin,  Robert  L.  Wilson, 
Job  Fletcher,  and  Archer  G.  Herndon.  The  last 
two  were  senators.  On  assembling  at  Vandalia 
they  were  at  once,  on  account  of  their  stature, 
dubbed  the  ''  Long  Nine.'*  In  height  they  averaged 
over   six    feet,    and    in   weight    over   two    hundred 


164  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

pounds.  *'  We  were  not  only  noted/'  says  one  ^  of 
them,  '*  for  our  number  and  length,  but  for  our 
combined  influence.  All  the  bad  or  objectional 
laws  passed  at  that  session  of  the  Legislature  and 
for  many  years  afterwards  were  chargeable  to  the 
management  and  influence  of  the  'Long  Nine.'" 
It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  into  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  legislation  at  this  period  or  to  rehearse 
the  history  of  the  political  conditions.  Many  and 
ingenious  were  the  manoeuvres,  but  it  would  fill  page 
after  page  to  narrate  them.  One  thing  which  de- 
serves mention  in  passing  was  ^*  that  Yankee  con- 
trivance," the  convention  system,  which  for  the 
first  time  was  brought  into  use.  The  Democrats,  in 
obedience  to  the  behests  of  Jackson,  had  adopted 
it,  and,  singularly  enough,  among  the  very  first 
named  for  office  under  the  operation  of  the  new 
system  was  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  who  was  elected  to 
the  Legislature  from  Morgan  county.  Its  introduc- 
tion was  attributed  to  Ebenezer  Peck,  of  Chicago, 
a  Democrat  who  had  once,  it  was  said,  served  in 
the  Canadian  Parliament.  This  latter  supposed 
connection  with  a  monarchical  institution  was  suffi- 
cient to  bring  down  on  his  head  the  united  hostility 
of  the  Whigs,  a  feeling  in  which  even  Lincoln 
joined.  But  after  witnessing  for  a  time  the  wonder- 
ful effects  of  its  discipline  in  Democratic  ranks, 
the  Whigs  too  fell  in,  and  resorted  to  the  use  of 
the  improved  machinery. 

The    Legislature  of  which  Mr.  Lincoln  thus  be- 

*R.  L.  Wilson,  MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 65 

came  a  member  was  one  that  will  never  be  for- 
gotten in  Illinois.  Its  legislation  in  aid  of  the 
so-called  internal  improvement  system  was  sig- 
nificantly reckless  and  unwise.  The  gigantic  and 
stupendous  operations  of  the  scheme  dazzled  the 
eyes  of  nearly  everybody,  but  in  the  end  it  rolled 
up  a  debt  so  enormous  as  to  impede  the  otherwise 
marvelous  progress  of  Illinois.  The  burdens  im- 
posed by  this  Legislature  under  the  guise  of 
improvements  became  so  monumental  in  size  it  is 
little  wonder  that  at  intervals  for  years  afterward  the 
monster  of  repudiation  often  showed  its  hideous 
face  above  the  waves  of  popular  indignation. 
These  attempts  at  a  settlement  of  the  debt  brought 
about  a  condition  of  things  which  it  is  said  led  the 
Little  Giant,  in  one  of  his  efforts  on  the  stump,  to 
suggest  that  *'  Illinois  ought  to  be  honest  if  she 
never  paid  a  cent.'*  However  much  we  may  regret 
that  Lincoln  took  part  and  aided  in  this  reckless  leg- 
islation, we  must  not  forget  that  his  party  and  all  his 
constituents  gave  him  their  united  endorsement. 
They  gave  evidence  of  their  approval  of  his  course 
by  two  subsequent  elections  to  the  same  office.  It 
has  never  surprised  me  in  the  least  that  Lincoln  fell 
so  harmoniously  in  with  the  great  system  of  im- 
provement. He  never  had  what  some  people  call 
**  money  sense.**  By  reason  of  his  peculiar  nature 
and  construction  he  was  endowed  with  none  of  the 
elements  of  a  political  economist.  He  was  en- 
thusiastic and  theoretical  to  a  certain  degree ; 
could  take  hold  of,  and  wrap  himself  up  in,  a  great 
moral  question ;  but  in  dealing  with  the  financial 


1 66  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN", 

and  commercial  interests  of  a  community  or  gov- 
ernment  he  was  equally  as  inadequate  as  he  was 
ineffectual  in  managing  the  economy  of  his  own 
household.  In  this  respect  alone  I  always  regarded 
Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  weak  man. 

One  of  his  biographers,  describing  his  legislative 
career  at  this  time,  says  of  him:  "  He  was  big  with 
prospects :  his  real  public  service  was  just  now 
about  to  begin.  In  the  previous  Legislature  he  had 
been  silent,  observant,  studious.  He  had  improved 
the  opportunity  so  well  that  of  all  men  in  this  new 
body,  of  equal  age  in  the  service,  he  was  the 
smartest  parliamentarian  and  cunningest  *  log  roller.' 
He  was  fully  determined  to  identify  himself  conspic- 
uously with  the  liberal  legislation  in  contemplation., 
and  dreamed  of  a  fame  very  different  from  that 
which  he  actually  obtained  as  an  anti-slavery  leader. 
It  was  about  this  time  he  told  his  friend  Speed  that 
he  aimed  at  the  great  distinction  of  being  called  the 
'  DeWitt  Clinton  of  Illinois.'  " 

The  representatives  in  the  Legislature  from  San- 
gamon county  had  been  instructed  by  a  mass  con- 
vention of  their  constituents  to  vote  **  for  a  general 
system  of  internal  improvements.''  Another  con- 
vention of  delegates  from  all  the  counties  in  the 
State  met  at  Vandalia  and  made  a  similar  recom- 
mendation  to  the  members  of  the  Legislature, 
specifying  that  it  should  be  *^  commensurate  with  the 
wants  of  the  people."  Provision  was  made  for  a 
gridiron  of  railroads.  The  extreme  points  of  the 
State,  east  and  west,  north  and  south,  were  to  be 
brought  together  by  thirteen  hundred  miles  of  iron 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOL^T.  167 

rails.  Every  river  and  stream  of  the  least  impor- 
tance was  to  be  widened,  deepened,  and  made 
navigable.  A  canal  to  connect  the  Illinois  River 
and  Lake  Michigan  was  to  be  dug,  and  thus  the 
great  system  was  to  be  made  ''  commensurate  with 
the  wants  of  the  people."  To  effect  all  these  great 
ends,  a  loan  of  twelve  million  dollars  was  authorized 
before  the  session  closed.  Work  on  all  these  gigan- 
tic enterprises  was  to  begin  at  the  earliest  prac- 
ticable moment  ;  cities  were  to  spring  up  every- 
where ;  capital  from  abroad  was  to  come  pouring  in  ; 
attracted  by  the  glowing  reports  of  marvelous 
progress  and  great  internal  wealth,  people  were  to 
come  swarming  in  by  colonies,  until  in  the  end 
Illinois  was  to  outstrip  all  the  others,  and  herself 
become  the  Empire  State  of  the  Union. 

Lincoln  served  on  the  Committee  on  Finance, 
and  zealously  labored  for  the  success  of  the  great 
measures  proposed,  believing  they  would  ultimately 
enrich  the  State,  and  redound  to  the  glory  of  all 
who  aided  in  their  passage.  In  advocating  these 
extensive  and  far-reaching  plans  he  was  not  alone. 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  John  A.  McClernand,  James 
Shieldij,  and  others  prominent  in  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  State,  were  equally  as  earnest  in  es- 
pousing the  cause  of  improvement,  and  sharing 
with  him  the  glory  that  attended  it.  Next  in 
importance  came  the  bill  to  remove  the  seat  of 
government  from  Vandalia.  Springfield,  of  course, 
wanted  it.  So  also  did  Alton,  Decatur,  Peoria, 
Jacksonville,  and  Illiopolis.  But  the  Long  Nine, 
by  their]  adroitness  and   influence,  were  too  much 


1 68  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

for  their  contestants.  They  made  a  bold  fight  for 
Springfield,  intrusting  the  management  of  the  bill 
to  Lincoln.  The  friends  of  other  cities  fought 
Springfield  bitterly,  but  under  Lincoln's  leadership 
the  Long  Nine  contested  with  them  every  inch  of 
the  way.  The  struggle  was  warm  and  protracted. 
*'  Its  enemies,''  relates  one  of  Lincoln's  colleagues,* 
**  laid  it  on  the  table  twice.  In  those  darkest  hours 
when  our  bill  to  all  appearances  was  beyond  resusci- 
tation, and  all  our  opponents  were  jubilant  over  our 
defeat,  and  when  friends  could  see  no  hope,  Mr. 
Lincoln  never  for  one  moment  despaired  ;  but 
collecting  his  colleagues  to  his  room  for  consulta- 
tion, his  practical  common-sense,  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  then  made  him  an 
overmatch  for  his  compeers  and  for  any  man  that  I 
have  ever  known."  The  friends  of  the  bill  at  last 
surmounted  all  obstacles,  and  only  a  day  or  two 
before  the  close  of  the  session  secured  its  passage 
by  a  joint  vote  of  both  houses. 

Meanwhile  the  great  agitation  against  human 
slavery,  which  like  a  rare  plant  had  flourished  amid 
the  hills  of  New  England  in  luxuriant  growth, 
began  to  make  its  appearance  in  the  West.  Mis- 
sionaries  in  the  great  cause  of  human  liberty  were 
settling  everywhere.  Taunts,  jeers,  ridicule,  perse- 
cution,  assassination  even,  were  destined  to  prove 
ineffectual  in  the  effort  to  suppress  or  exterminate 
these  pioneers  of  Abolitionism.  These  brave  but 
derided  apostles  carried  with   them  the  seed  of  a 

*  R.  S.  Wilson,  MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 69 

great  reform.  Perhaps,  as  was  then  said  of  them, 
they  were  somewhat  in  advance  of  their  season,  and 
perhaps  too,  some  of  the  seed  might  be  sown  in 
sterile  ground  and  never  come  to  life,  but  they 
comforted  themselves  with  the  assurance  that  it 
would  not  all  die.  A  little  here  and  there  was 
destined  to  grow  to  life  and  beauty. 

It  is  not  surprising,  I  think,  that  Lincoln  should 
have  viewed  this  New  England  importation  wuth 
mingled  suspicion  and  alarm.  Abstractly,  and 
from  the  standpoint  of  conscience,  he  abhorred 
slavery.  But  born  in  Kentucky,  and  surrounded  as 
he  was  by  slave-holding  influences,  absorbing  their 
prejudices  and  following  in  their  line  of  thought,  it 
is  not  strange,  I  repeat,  that  he  should  fail  to  esti- 
mate properly  the  righteous  indignation  and  unre- 
strained zeal  of  a  Yankee  Abolitionist.  On  the 
last  day  but  one  of  the  session,  he  solicited  his 
colleagues  to  sign  with  him  a  mild  and  carefully 
worded  protest  against  certain  resolutions  on  the 
subject  of  domestic  slavery,  which  had  been  passed 
by  both  houses  of  the  Legislature.  They  all 
declined,  however,  save  one,  Dan  Stone,^  who  with 


*"  Following  are  the  resolutions  against  the  passage  of  which 
Lincoln  and  Stone  made  their  protest : 

Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois  :  That 
we  highly  disapprove  of  the  formation  of  Abolition  societies  and  of 
the  doctrines  promulgated  by  them, 

That  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  is  sacred  to  the  slave-holding 
States  by  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  that  they  cannot  be  deprived 
of  that  right  without  their  consent, 

That   the   General   Government   cannot    abolish   slavery   in   the 


I/O  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

his  associate  will  probably  be  known  long  after 
mention  of  all  other  members  of  the  Long  Nine 
has  dropped  from  history.  The  language  and 
sentiment  are  clearly  Lincolnian,  and  over  twenty 
years  afterward,  when  it  was  charged  that  Lincoln 
was  an  Abolitionist,  and  this  protest  was  cited  as 
proof,  it  was  only  necessary  to  call  for  a  careful 
reading  of  the  paper  for  an  unqualified  and  over- 
whelming refutation  of  the  charge.  The  records  of 
the  Legislature  for  March  3,  1837,  contain  this 
entry : 

"  Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic 
slavery  having  passed  both  branches  of  the  General 
Assembly  at  its  present  session,  the  undersigned 
hereby  protest  against  the  passage  of  the  same. 

**  They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is 
founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy,  but  that 
the  promulgation  of  abolition  doctrines  tends 
rather  to  increase  than  abate  its  evils. 

"  They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  has  no  power  under  the  Constitution  to 
interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the 
different  States. 

"They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  has  the  power  under  the  Constitution  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  that 
the  power  ought  not  to  be  exercised  unless  at  the 
request  of  the  people  of  the  District. 


District  of  Columbia  against  the   consent  of  the  citizens  of  said 
District,  without  a  manifest  breach  of  good  faith, 

That  the  Governor  be  requested  to  transmit  to  the  States  of 
Virginia^  Alabama,  Mississippi,  New  York,  and  Connecticut,  a  copy 
of  the  foregeing  report  and  resolutions. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  171 

"The  difference  between  these  opinions  and 
those  contained  in  the  above  resolutions  is  their 
reason  for  entering  this  protest. 

''  Dan  Stone, 
''  A.  Lincoln, 
**  Representatives  from  the  county  of  Sangamon/' 

This  document  so  adroitly  drawn  and  worded, 
this  protest  pruned  of  any  offensive  allusions,  and 
cautiously  framed  so  as  to  suit  the  temper  of  the 
times,  stripped  of  its  verbal  foliage  reveals  in 
naked  grandeur  the  solemn  truth  that  '*  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  is  founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad 
policy."  A  quarter  of  a  century  later  finds  one  of 
these  protesters  righting  the  injustice  and  correct- 
ing the  bad  policy  of  the  inhuman  and  diabol- 
ical institution. 

The  return  of  the  "  Long  Nine  '*  to  Springfield 
was  the  occasion  of  much  enthusiasm  and  joy. 
The  manifestations  of  public  delight  had  never 
been  equalled  before,  save  when  the  steamer  Talis- 
man made  its  famous  trip  down  the  Sangamon  in 
183 1.  The  returning  legislators  were  welcomed 
with  public  dinners  and  the  effervescent  buncombe 
of  local  orators.  Amid  the  congratulations  of  warm 
friends  and  the  approval  of  their  enthusiastic 
constituents,  in  which  Lincoln  received  the  lion's 
share  of  praise,  they  separated,  each  departing  to 
his  own  home. 

After  his  return  from  the  Legislature,  Lincoln 
determined  to  remove  to  Springfield,  the  county 
seat,  and  begin  the  practice  of  the  law.  Having 
been  so  instrumental  in  securing  the  removal  of  tha 


172  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

State  Capital  from  Vandalia,  and  having  received 
such  encouraging  assurances  from  Major  John  T. 
Stuart  and  other  leading  citizens,  he  felt  confident 
of  a  good  start. "^  He  had  little,  if  any,  money,  but 
hoped  to  find  in  Springfield,  as  he  had  in  New 
Salem,  good  and  influential  friends,  who,  recogniz- 
ing alike  his  honesty  and  his  nobility  of  character, 
would  aid  him  whenever  a  crisis  came  and  their 
help  was  needed.  In  this  hope  he  was  by  no 
means  in  error,  for  his  subsequent  history  shows 
that  he  indeed  united  his  friends  to  himself  with 
hooks  of  steel.  I  had  up  to  this  time  frequently 
seen  Mr.  Lincoln — had  often,  while  visiting  my 
cousins,  James  and  Rowan  Herndon,  at  New  Salem, 
met  him  at  their  house — but  became  warmly  at- 
tached to  him  soon  after  his  removal  to  Springfield. 
There  was  something  in  his  tall  and  angular  frame, 
his  ill-fitting  garments,  honest  face,  and  lively 
humor  that  imprinted  his  individuality  on  my  affec- 
tion and  regard.  What  impression  I  made  on  him  I 
had  no  means  of  knowing  till  many  years  afterward. 
He  was  my  senior  by  nine  years,  and  I  looked  up  to 
him,  naturally  enough,  as  my  superior  in  everything — 
a  thing  I  continued  to  do   till  the  end  of  his  days. 

♦Lincoln  used  to  come  to  our  office — Stuart's  and  mine — in 
Springfield  from  New  Salem  and  borrow  law-books.  Sometimes  he 
walked  but  generally  rode.  He  was  the  most  uncouth  looking 
young  man  I  ever  saw.  He  seemed  to  have  but  little  to  say ;  seemed 
to  feel  timid,  with  a  tinge  of  sadness  visible  in  the  countenance,  but 
when  he  did  talk  all  this  disappeared  for  the  time  and  he  demon- 
strated that  he  was  both  strong  and  acute.  He  surprised  us  more 
and  more  at  every  visif — Henry  E.  Dummer,  Statement,  Sept 
i6th,  1865. 


JHE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN-.  1 73 

Now  that  the  State  capital  was  to  be  located  at 
Springfield,  that  place  began,  by  way  of  asserting 
its  social  superiority,  to  put  on  a  good  many  airs. 
Wealth  made  its  gaudy  display,  and  thus  sought 
to  attain  a  pre-eminence  from  which  learning  and 
refinement  are  frequently  cut  off.  Already,  people 
had  settled  there  who  could  trace  their  descent 
down  a  long  line  of  distinguished  ancestry.  The 
established  families  were  mainly  from  Kentucky. 
They  re-echoed  the  sentiments  and  reflected  the 
arrogance  and  elegance  of  a  slave-holding  aristoc- 
racy. *'  The  Todds,  Stuarts,  and  Edwardses  were 
there,  with  priests,  dogs,  and  servants  ;  *'  there  also 
were  the  Mathers,  Lambs,  Opdykes,  Forquers,  and 
Fords.  Amid  all  "the  flourishing  about  in  car- 
riages **  and  the  pretentious  elegance  of  that  early 
day  was  Lincoln.  Of  origin,  doubtful  if  not  un- 
known ;  **poor,  without  the  means  of  hiding  his 
poverty,'*  he  represented  yet  another  importation 
from  Kentucky  which  is  significantly  comprehended 
by  the  term,  "the  poor  whites.*'  Springfield,  con- 
taining between  one  and  two  thousand  people,  was 
near  the  northern  line  of  settlement  in  Illinois. 
Still  it  was  the  center  of  a  limited  area  of  wealth 
and  refinement.  Its  citizens  were  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  push  and  enterprise.  Lincoln  therefore 
could  not  have  been  thrown  into  a  better  or  more 
appreciative  community. 

In  March,  1837,  he  was  licensed  to  practice  law. 
His  name  appears  for  the  first  time  as  attorney 
for  the  plaintiff  in  the  case  of  Hawthorne  vs.  Wool-, 
ridge.       He    entered    the    office    and    became   the 


174  '^HE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

partner  of  his  comrade  in  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
John  T.  Stuart,  who  had  gained  rather  an  exten- 
sive practice,  and  who,  by  the  loan  of  sundry  text- 
books several  years  before,  had  encouraged  Lin* 
coin  to  continue  in  the  study  of  law.  Stuart  had 
emigrated  from  Kentucky  in  1828,  and  on  account 
of  his  nativity,  if  for  no  other  reason,  had  great 
influence  with  the  leading  people  in  Springfield. 
He  used  to  relate  that  on  the  next  morning  after 
his  arrival  in  Springfield  he  was  standing  in  front  of 
the  village  store,  leaning  against  a  post  in  the  side- 
walk and  wondering  how  to  introduce  himself  to 
the  community,  when  he  was  approached  by  a  well- 
dressed  old  gentleman,  who,  interesting  himself  in 
the  newcomer's  welfare,  enquired  after  his  history 
and  business.  ''Fm  from  Kentucky,**  answered 
Stuart,  ''and  my  profession  is  that  of  a  lawyer,  sir. 
What  is  the  prospect  here  ?  '*  Throwing  his  head 
back  and    closing   his    left  eye  the  old  gentleman 

reflected  a   moment.     ''Young   man,    d d   slim 

chance  for  that  kind  of  a  combination  here,*'  was 
the  response. 

At  the  time  of  Lincoln's  entry  into  the  office, 
Stuart  was  just  recovering  from  the  effects  of  a 
congressional  race  in  which  he  had  been  the  loser. 
He  was  still  deeply  absorbed  in  politics,  and  was 
preparing  for  the  next  canvass,  in  which  he  was  fin- 
ally successful — defeating  the  wily  and  ambitious 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  In  consequence  of  the  politi- 
cal allurements,  Stuart  did  not  give  to  the  law  his 
undivided  time  or  the  full  force  of  his  energy  and 
intellect.     Thus  more  or  less   responsibility  in  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN',  1/5 

management  of  business  and  the  conduct  of  cases 
soon  devolved  on  Lincoln.  The  entries  in  the  ac- 
count books  of  the  firm  are  all  in  the  handwrit- 
ing of  Lincoln.  Most  of  the  declarations  and  pleas 
were  written  by  him  also.  This  sort  of  exercise 
was  never  congenial  to  him,  and  it  was  the  only 
time,  save  a  brief  period  under  Judge  Logan, 
that  he  served  as  junior  partner  and  performed 
the  labor  required  of  one  who  serves  in  that  rather 
subordinate  capacity.  He  had  not  yet  learned  to 
love  work.  The  office  of  the  firm  was  in  the  upper 
story  of  a  building  opposite  the  north-west  corner 
of  the  present  Court-house  Square.  In  the  room 
underneath,  the  county  court  was  held.  The  fur- 
niture was  in  keeping  with  the  pretensions  of  the 
firm — a  small  lounge  or  bed,  a  chair  containing  a 
buffalo  robe,  in  which  the  junior  member  was  wont 
to  sit  and  study,  a  hard  wooden  bench,  a  feeble  at- 
tempt at  a  book-case,  and  a  table  which  answered 
for  a  desk.  Lincoln's  first  attempt  at  settlement 
in  Springfield,  which  preceded  a  few  days  his  part- 
nership with  Stuart,  has  been  graphically  described 
by  his  friend,  Joshua  F.  Speed,  who  generously 
offered  to  share  his  quarters  with  the  young  legal 
aspirant.  Speed,  who  was  a  prosperous  young  mer- 
chant, reports  that  Lincoln's  personal  effects  con- 
sisted of  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  containing  two  or 
three  lawbooks  and  a  few  pieces  of  clothing.  ''  He 
had  ridden  into  town  on  a  borrowed  horse,"  relates 
Speed,  '*  and  engaged  from  the  only  cabinet-maker 
in  the  village  a  single  bedstead.  He  came  into  my 
store,  set  his  saddle-bags   on   the  counter,  and  en- 


176  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

quired  what  the  furniture  for  a  single  bedstead 
would  cost.  I  took  slate  and  pencil,  made  a 
calculation,  and  found  the  sum  for  furniture  com- 
plete would  amount  to  seventeen  dollars  in  all. 
Said  he :  ^  It  is  probably  cheap  enough ;  but  1 
want  to  say  that,  cheap  as  it  is,  I  have  not  the 
money  to  pay.  But  if  you  will  credit  me  until 
Christmas,  and  my  experiment  here  as  a  lawyer  is 
a  success,  I  will  pay  you  then.  If  I  fail  in  that  I 
will  probably  never  pay  you  at  all.*  The  tone 
of  his  voice  was  so  melancholy  that  I  felt  for 
him.  I  looked  up  at  him  and  I  thought  then,  as  I 
think  now,  that  I  never  saw  so  gloomy  and  melan- 
choly a  face  in  my  life.  I  said  to  him,  *  So  small  a 
debt  seems  to  affect  you  so  deeply,  I  think  I  can 
suggest  a  plan  by  which  you  will  be  able  to  attain 
your  end  without  incurring  any  debt.  I  have  a 
very  large  room  and  a  very  large  double  bed  in  it, 
which  you  are  perfectly  welcome  to  share  with  me 
if  you  choose.*  *  Where  is  your  room  ?  '  he  asked. 
•*  Upstairs,'  said  I,  pointing  to  the  stairs  leading 
from  the  store  to  my  room.  Without  saying  a 
word  he  took  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm,  went  up- 
stairs, set  them  down  on  the  floor,  came  down  again, 
and  with  a  face  beaming  with  pleasure  and  smiles, 
exclaimed,  '  Well,  Speed,  I'm  moved.'  " 

William  Butler,  who  was  prominent  in  the  re- 
moval of  the  capital  from  Vandalia  to  Springfield; 
took  no  little  interest  in  Lincoln,  while  a  member 
of  the  Legislature.  After  his  removal  to  Spring- 
field, Lincoln  boarded  at  Butler's  house  for  several 
years.     He  became  warmly  attached  to  the  family, 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 77 

and  it  is  probable  the  matter  of  pay  never  entered 
Butler's  mind.  He  was  not  only  able  but  willing 
to  befriend  the  young  lawyer  in  this  and  many 
other  ways. 

Stephen  T.  Logan  was  judge  of  the  Circuit  court, 
and  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  prosecuting  attorney. 
Among  the  attorneys  we  find  many  promising 
spirits.  Edward  D.  Baker,  John  T.  Stuart,  Cyrus 
Walker,  Samuel  H.  Treat,  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  George 
Forquer,  Dan  Stone,  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  John  J. 
Hardin,  Schuyler  Strong,  A.  T.  Bledsoe,  and  Josiah 
Lamborn — a  galaxy  of  names,  each  destined  to 
shed  more  or  less  lustre  on  the  history  of  the  State. 
While  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  Lincoln  did 
not,  after  entering  Stuart's  ofifice,  do  as  much  deep 
and  assiduous  studying  as  people  generally  credit 
him  with,  yet  I  am  confident  he  absorbed  not  a 
little  learning  by  contact  with  the  great  minds  who 
thronged  about  the  courts  and  State  Capitol.  The 
books  of  Stuart  and  Lincoln,  during  1837,  show  a 
practice  more  extensive  than  lucrative,  for  while 
they  received  a  number  of  fees,  only  two  or  there 
of  them  reached  fifty  dollars ;  and  one  of  these  has 
a  credit  of:  *' Coat  to  Stuart,  $15.00,"  showing  that 
they  were  compelled,  now  and  then,  even  to  **  trade 
out "  their  earnings.  The  litigation  was  as  limited 
in  importance  as  in  extent.  There  were  no  great 
corporations,  as  in  this  progressive  day,  retaining 
for  counsel  the  brains  of  the  bar  in  every  county 
seat,  but  the  greatest  as  well  as  the  least  had  to  join 
the  general  scramble  for  practice.  The  courts  con- 
sumed as  much  time  deciding  who  had  committed 


178  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

an  assault  or  a  trespass  on  a  neighbor's  ground,  as 
it  spent  in  the  solution  of  questions  arising  on  con- 
tracts, or  unravelling  similar  legal  complications. 
Lawyers  depended  for  success,  not  on  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  law  or  their  familiarity  with  its  under- 
lying  principles,  but  placed  their  reliance  rather  on 
their  frontier  oratory  and  the  influence  of  their 
personal  bearing  before  the  jury. 

Lincoln  made  Speed's  store  headquarters.  There 
politics,  religion,  and  all  other  subjects  were  dis- 
cussed. There  also  public  sentiment  was  made. 
The  store  had  a  large  fire-place  in  the  rear,  and 
around  it  the  lights  of  the  town  collected  every 
evening.  As  the  sparks  flew  from  the  crackling 
logs,  another  and  more  brilliant  fire  flashed  when 
these  great  minds  came  into  collision.  Here  were 
wont  to  gather  Lincoln,  Douglas,  Baker,  Calhoun, 
Browning,  Lamborn,  Jesse  B.  Thomas  and  others. 
Only  those  who  were  present  and  listened  to  these 
embryonic  statesmen  and  budding  orators  will  ever  be 
able  to  recall  their  brilliant  thoughts  and  appreciate 
their  youthful  enthusiasm.  In  the  fall  and  winter 
of  1837,  while  I  was  attending  college  at  Jackson- 
ville, the  persecution  and  death  of  Elijah  P.  Love- 
joy  at  Alton  took  place.  This  cruel  and  uncalled- 
for  murder  had  aroused  the  anti-slavery  sentiment 
everywhere.  It  penetrated  the  college,  and  both 
faculty  and  students  were  loud  and  unrestrained  in 
their  denunciation  of  the  crime.  My  father,  who 
was  thoroughly  pro-slavery  in  his  ideas,  believing 
that  the  college  was  too  strongly  permeated  with 
the  virus  of  Abolitionism,  forced  me  to  withdraw 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLJST.  1/9 

from  the  institution  and  return  home.  But  it  was 
too  late.  My  soul  had  absorbed  too  much  of  what 
my  father  believed  was  rank  poison.  The  mur- 
der of  Lovejoy  filled  me  with  more  desperation 
than  the  slave  scene  in  New  Orleans  did  Lincoln  ; 
for  while  he  believed  in  non-interference  with 
slavery,  so  long  as  the  Constitution  permitted  and 
authorized  its  existence,  I,  although  acting  nomi- 
nally with  the  Whig  party  up  to  1853,  struck  out 
for  Abolitionism  pure  and  simple. 

On  my  return  to  Springfield  from  college,  I  hired 
to  Joshua  F.  Speed  as  clerk  in  his  store.  My 
salary,  seven  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  was  con- 
sidered good  pay  then.  Speed,  Lincoln,  Charles 
R.  Hursty  and  I  slept  in  the  room  upstairs  over 
the  store.  I  had  worked  for  Speed  before  going  to 
college,  and  after  hiring  to  him  this  time  again, 
continued  in  his  employ  for  several  years.  The 
young  men  who  congregated  about  the  store 
formed  a  'society  for  the  encouragement  of  debate 
and  literary  efforts.  Sometimes  we  would  meet  in 
a  lawyer's  office  and  often  in  Speed's  room.  Be- 
sides the  debates,  poems  and  other  original  pro- 
ductions were  read.  Unfortunately  we  ruled  out 
the  ladies.  I  am  free  to  admit  I  would  not  encour- 
age a  similar  thing  nowadays ;  but  in  that  early 
day  the  young  men  had  not  the  comforts  of  books 
and  newspapers  which  are  within  the  reach  of 
every  boy  now.  Some  allowance  therefore  should 
be  made  for  us.  I  have  forgotten  the  name  of  the 
society — if  it  had  any — and  can  only  recall  a  few 
of  its  leading  spirits.     Lincoln,  James    Matheney 


l8o  ^HE.  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

Noah  Rickard,  Evan  Butler,  Milton  Hay,  and 
Newton  Francis  were  members.  I  joined  also. 
Matheney  was  secretary.^  We  were  favored  with 
all  sorts  of  literary  productions.  Lincoln  one  night 
entertained  us  with  a  few  lines  of  rhyme  intended 
to  illustrate  some  weakness  in  woman — her  frailty, 
perhaps.  Unfortunately,  the  manuscript  has  not 
been  preserved.  Matheney  was  able,  several  years 
ago,  to  repeat  a  single  stanza,  but  claimed  that  after 
the  lapse  of  so  many  years  it  was  all  he  could  recall. 
Perhaps  in  the  end  it  is  best  his  memory  was  no 
more  retentive.  Reproduced  here  exactly  as  in  the 
original,  it  might  suggest  more  than  one  construction 
or  offend  against  the  canons  of  approved  taste ;  in 
either  event  I  shall  omit  it. 

Besides  this  organization   we   had   a   society   in 
Springfield,  which  contained   and   commanded   all 


♦Near  Hoffman's  Row,  where  the  Courts  were  held  in  1839-40, 
lived  a  shoemaker  who  frequently  would  get  drunk  and  invariably 
whipped  his  wife.  Lincoln,  hearing  of  this,  told  the  man  if  he 
ever  repeated  it  he  would  thrash  him  soundly  himself.  Meanwhile 
he  told  Evan  Butler,  Noah  Rickard,  and  myself  of  it,  and  we  decided 
if  the  offense  occurred  again  to  join  with  Lincoln  in  suppressing  it. 
In  due  course  of  time  we  heard  of  it.  We  dragged  the  offender  up 
to  the  court-house,  stripped  him  of  his  shirt,  and  tied  him  to  a  post 
or  pump  which  stood  over  the  well  in  the  yard  back  of  the  building. 
Then  we  sent  for  his  wife  and  arming  her  with  a  good  limb  bade  het 
"  light  in."  We  sat  on  our  haunches  and  watched  the  performance. 
The  wife  did  her  work  lustily  and  well.  When  we  thought  the  cul- 
prit had  had  enough  Lincoln  released  him ;  we  helped  him  on  with 
his  shirt  and  he  crept  sorrowfully  homeward.  Of  course  he  threat' 
ened  vengeance,  but  still  we  heard  no  further  reports  of  wife-whip 
ping  from  him. — ^James  H.  Matheney. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  l8i 

the  culture  and  talent  of  the  place.  Unlike  the 
other  one  its  meetings  were  public,  and  reflected 
great  credit  on  the  community.  We  called  it  the 
**  Young  Men's  Lyceum."  Late  in  1837,  Lincoln 
delivered  before  the  society  a  carefully  prepared 
address  on  the  ''  Perpetuation  of  Our  Free  Institu- 
tions.*' "^  The  inspiration  and  burthen  of  it  was  law 
and  order.  It  has  been  printed  in  full  so  often,  and 
is  always  to  be  found  in  the  list  of  Lincoln's  public 
speeches,  that  I  presume  I  need  not  reproduce  it  here. 
It  was  highly  sophomoric  in  character  and  abounded 
in  striking  and  lofty  metaphor.  In  point  of  rhetor- 
ical effort  it  excels  anything  he  ever  afterward 
attempted.  Probably  it  was  the  thing  people 
expect  from  a  young  man  of  twenty-eight.  The 
address  was  published  in  the  Sangamon  Journal 
and  created  for  the  young  orator  a  reputation  which 
soon  extended  beyond  the  limits  of  the  locality  in 
which  he  lived.  As  illustrative  of  his  style  of 
oratory,  I  beg  to  introduce  the  concluding  para- 
graph of  the  address.  Having  characterized  the 
surviving  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  as  **  living 
histories,"  he  closes  with  this  thrilling  flourish: 
"But  these  histories  are  gone.  They  can  be  read 
no  more  forever.  They  were  a  fortress  of  strength ; 
but  what  invading  foeman  never  could  do,  the 
silent    artillery    of    time  has — the  levelling    of    its 

*  Mr.  Lincoln's  speech  was  brought  out  by  the  burning  of  a  negro 
in  St.  Louis  a  few  weeks  before  by  a  mob.  Lincoln  took  this  inci- 
dent as  a  sort  of  text  for  his  remarks.  James  Matheney  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Lyceum  to  request  of  Lincoln  a  copy  of  his  speech 
and  see  to  its  publication. 


1 82  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  ^ 

walls.  They  are  gone.  They  were  a  forest  of 
giant  oaks  ;  but  the  all-resistless  hurricane  has  swept 
over  them,  and  left  only  here  and  there  a  lonely 
trunk,  despoiled  of  its  verdure,  shorn  of  its  foliage, 
unshading  and  unshaded,  to  murmur  in  a  few  more 
gentle  breezes^  and  to  combat  with  its  mutilated 
limbs  a  few  more  rude  storms,  then  to  sink  and  be 
no  more.  They  were  pillars  of  the  temple  of  lib. 
erty,  and  now  that  they  have  crumbled  away,  that 
temple  must  fall,  unless  we,  their  descendants, 
supply  their  places  with  other  pillars  hewn  from  the 
same  solid  quarry  of  sober  reason.  Passion  has 
helped  us,  but  can  do  so  no  more.  It  will  in  future 
be  our  enemy.  Reason — cold,  calculating,  unim- 
passioned  reason — must  furnish  all  the  materials 
for  our  future  support  and  defense.  Let  these 
materials  be  moulded  into  general  intelligence, 
sound  morality,  and  in  particular,  a  reverence  for 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws.  *  "^  -^  Upon  these 
let  the  proud  fabric  of  freedom  rest  as  the  rock  of 
its  basis,  and  as  truly  as  has  been  said  of  the  only 
greater  institution,  'The  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it.'  " 

In  time  Lincoln's  style  changed  :  he  became  more 
eloquent  but  with  less  gaudy  ornamentation.  He 
grew  in  oratorical  power,  dropping  gradually  the 
alliteration  and  rosy  metaphor  of  youth,  until  he 
was  able  at  last  to  deliver  that  grandest  of  all 
orations — the  Gettysburg  address. 

One  evening,  while  the  usual  throng  of  loungers 
surrounded  the  inviting  fireplace  in  Speed's  store, 
the  conversation  turned  on  political  matters.     The 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  1 83 

disputants  waxed  warm  and  acrimonious  as  the 
discussion  proceeded.  Business  being  over  for  the 
day,  I  strolled  back  and  seating  myself  on  a  keg 
listened  with  eager  interest  to  the  battle  going  on 
among  these  would-be  statesmen.  Douglas,  I  rec- 
ollect, was  leading  on  the  Democratic  side.  He  had 
already  learned  the  art  of  dodging  in  debate,  but 
still  he  was  subtle,  fiery,  and  impetuous.  He 
charged  the  Whigs  with  every  blunder  and  political 
crime  he  could  imagine.  No  vulnerable  spot 
seemed  to  have  escaped  him.  At  last,  with  great 
vehemence,  he  sprang  up  and  abruptly  made  a  chal- 
lenge to  those  who  differed  with  him  to  discuss  the 
whole  matter  publicly,  remarking  that,  *'  This  store 
is  no  place  to  talk  politics.**  In  answer  to  Doug- 
las's  challenge  the  contest  was  entered  into.  It 
took  place  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Douglas, 
Calhoun,  Lamborn,  and  Thomas  represented  the 
Democrats  ;  and  Logan,  Baker,  Browning,  and  Lin- 
coln, in  the  order  named,  presented  the  Whig  side 
of  the  question.  One  evening  was  given  to  each 
man,  and  it  therefore  required  over  a  week  to  com- 
plete the  tournament.  Lincoln  occupied  the  last 
evening,  and  although  the  people  by  that  time  had 
necessarily  grown  a  little  tired  of  the  monotony  and 
well-worn  repetition,  yet  Lincoln's  manner  of  pre- 
senting his  thoughts  and  answering  his  Democratic 
opponents  excited  renewed  interest.  So  deep  was  the 
impression  he  created  that  he  was  asked  to  furnish 
his  speech  to  the  Sangamon  Journal  for  publication, 
and  it  afterwards  appeared  in  the  columns  of  that 
organ. 


1 84  ^-^-^  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

Meatiwhile  Mr.  Lincoln  had  attended  one  special 
session  of  the  Legislature  in  July,  1837.  The  ses- 
sion  was  called  to  take  some  action  with  regard  to 
the  financial  condition  of  the  State.  The  Bank  of 
the  United  States  and  the  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia Banks  had  suspended  specie  payments.  This 
action  had  precipitated  general  ruin  among  business 
men  and  interests  over  the  entire  country.  The 
called  session  of  the  Legislature  was  intended  to 
save  the  Illinois  banks  from  impending  dissolution. 
Lincoln  retained  his  position  on  the  Committee  on 
Finance,  and  had  lost  none  of  his  enthusiasm  over 
the  glorious  prospects  of  internal  improvements. 
The  Legislature,  instead  of  abridging,  only  extended 
the  already  colossal  proportions  of  the  great  sys- 
tem. In  this  they  paid  no  heed  to  the  governor, 
whose  head  seems  to  have  been  significantly  clear 
on  the  folly  of  the  enterprise. 

In  1838  Mr.  Lincoln  was  again  elected  to  the 
Legislature.  At  this  session,  as  the  nominee  of  the 
Whig  party,  he  received  thirty-eight  votes  for 
Speaker.  Wm.  L.  D.  Ewing,  his  successful  com- 
petitor, the  Democratic  candidate,  received  forty* 
three  votes,  and  was  elected.  Besides  retaining  his 
place  on  the  Finance  Committee,  Lincoln  was 
assigned  to  the  Committee  on  Counties.  The 
enthusiasm  and  zeal  of  the  friends  of  internal  im- 
provements began  to  flag  now  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  bonds  issued  were  beginning  to  find  their 
true  level  in  point  of  value.  Lincoln,  together  with 
others  of  kindred  views,  tried  to  bolster  the  **  sys- 
tem *'  up ;  but  soon  the  discouraging  fact  became 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN'.  1 85 

apparent  that  no  more  money  could  be  obtained, 
and  the  Legislature  began  to  descant  on  what  part 
of  the  debt  was  lawful  and  what  unlawful.  Repu- 
diation  seemed  not  far  off.  Mr.  Lincoln  despaired 
now  of  ever  becoming  the  ^*  DeWitt  Clinton  of  Illi- 
nois." We  find  him  admitting  ^'  his  share  of  the 
responsibility  in  the  present  crisis/*  and  finally  con- 
cluding that  he  was  **  no  financier**  after  all.  No 
sooner  had  the  Legislature  adjourned  than  he 
decided — if  he  had  not  already  so  determined — to 
run  for  the  same  place  again.  He  probably  wanted 
it  for  a  vindication.  He  was  pursued  now  more 
fiercely  than  ever,  and  he  was  better  able  to  endure 
the  vilification  of  a  political  campaign  than  when 
he  first  offered  himself  to  the  voters  in  New  Salem. 
Among  the  Democratic  orators  who  stumped  the 
county  at  this  time  was  one  Taylor — commonly 
known  as  Col.  Dick  Taylor.  He  was  a  showy,  bom- 
bastic man,  with  a  weakness  for  fine  clothes  and 
other  personal  adornments.  Frequently  he  was 
pitted  against  Lincoln,  and  indulged  in  many  bitter 
flings  at  the  lordly  ways  and  aristocratic  pretensions 
of  the  Whigs.  He  had  a  way  of  appealing  to  *'his 
horny-handed  neighbors/'  and  resorted  to  many 
other  artful  tricks  of  a  demagogue.  When  he  was 
one  day  expatiating  in  his  accustomed  style,  Lin- 
coln, in  a  spirit  of  mischief  and,  as  he  expressed  it^ 
**  to  take  the  wind  out  of  his  sails,**  slipped  up  to 
the  speaker's  side,  and  catching  his  vest  by  the 
lower  edge  gave  it  a  sharp  pull.  The  latter  in- 
stantly  opened  and  revealed  to  his  astonished  hear- 
ers a  ruffled  shirt-front  glittering  with  watch-chain^ 


1 86  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

seals,  and  other  golden  jewels.  The  effect  was  start, 
ling.  The  speaker  stood  confused  and  dumb- 
founded, while  the  audience  roared  with  laugh- 
ter. When  it  came  Lincoln^s  turn  to  answer  he 
covered  the  gallant  colonel  over  in  this  style : 
"  While  Colonel  Taylor  was  making  these  charges 
against  the  Whigs  over  the  country,  riding  in 
fine  carriages,  wearing  ruffled  shirts,  kid  gloves, 
massive  gold  watch-chains  with  large  gold  seals,  and 
flourishing  a  heavy  gold-headed  cane,  I  was  a  poor 
boy,  hired  on  a  flat-boat  at  eight  dollars  a  month, 
and  had  only  one  pair  of  breeches  to  my  back,  and 
they  were  buckskin.  Now  if  you  know  the  nature 
of  buckskin  when  wet  and  dried  by  the  «un,  it  will 
shrink ;  and  my  breeches  kept  shrinking*  until  they 
left  several  inches  of  my  legs  bare  between  the  tops 
of  my  socks  and  the  lower  part  of  my  breeches  ;  and 
whilst  I  was  growing  taller  they  were  becoming 
shorter,  and  so  much  tighter  that  they  left  a  blue 
streak  around  my  legs  that  can  be  seen  to  this  day. 
If  you  call  this  aristocracy  I  plead  guilty  to  the 
charge.**  ^ 

It  was  during  this  same  canvass  that  Lincoln  by 
his  manly  interference  protected  his  friend  E.  D. 
Baker  from  the  anger  of  an  infuriated  crowd. 
Baker  was  a  brilliant  and  effective  speaker,  and 
quite  as  full  too  of  courage  as  invective.  He  was 
addressing  a  crowd  in  the  court  room,  which  was 
immediately  underneath  Stuart  and  Lincoln's  office. 
Just  above  the  platform  on  which  the  speaker  stood 

*From  MS.  of  Ninian  W.  Edwards. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLiv,  1 87 

was  a  trap  door  in  the  floor,  which  opened  into  Lin- 
coln's office.  Lincoln  at  the  time,  as  was  often  his 
habit,  was  lying  on  the  floor  looking  down  through 
the  door  at  the  speaker.  I  was  in  the  body  of  the 
crowd.  Baker  was  hot-headed  and  impulsive,  but 
brave  as  a  lion.  Growing  warm  in  his  arraignment 
of  the  Democratic  party,  he  charged  that  **  wher- 
ever there  was  a  land  office  there  was  a  Democratic 
newspaper  to  defend  its  corruptions."  This 
angered  the  brother  of  the  editor  of  our  town  paper, 
who  was  present,  and  who  cried  out,  **  Pull  him 
down,"  at  the  same  time  advancing  from  the  crowd 
as  if  to  perform  the  task  himself.  Baker,  his  face 
pale  with  excitement,  squared  himself  for  resist- 
ance. A  shuffling  of  feet,  a  forward  movement 
of  the  crowd,  and  great  confusion  followed. 
Just  then  a  long  pair  of  legs  were  seen  dangling 
from  the  aperture  above,  and  instantly  the  figure  of 
Lincoln  dropped  on  the  platform.  Motioning  with 
his  hands  for  silence  and  not  succeeding,  he  seized 
a  stone  water-pitcher  standing  near  by,  threatening 
to  break  it  over  the  head  of  the  first  man  who  laid 
hands  on  Baker.  **  Hold  on,  gentlemen,"  he 
shouted,  **  this  is  the  land  of  free  speech.  Mr.  Baker 
has  a  right  to  speak  and  ought  to  be  heard.  I  am 
here  to  protect  him,  and  no  man  shall  take  him 
from  this  stand  if  I  can  prevent  it."  His  interfer- 
ence  had  the  desired  effect.  Quiet  was  soon  re- 
stored, and  the  valiant  Baker  was  allowed  to  pro- 
ceed. I  was  in  the  back  part  of  the  crowd  that 
night,  and  an  enthusiastic  Baker  man  myself.  I 
knew  he  was  a  brave  man,  and  even  if  Lincoln  had 


1 88  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

not  interposed,  I  felt  sure  he  wouldn't  have  been 
pulled  from  the  platform  without  a  bitter  struggle. 

This  canvass — 1840 — was  Mr.  Lincoln's  last  cam- 
paign for  the  Legislature.  Feeling  that  he  had  had 
enough  honor  out  of  the  office  he  probably  aspired 
for  a  place  of  more  distinction.  Jesse  B.  Thomas, 
one  of  the  men  who  had  represented  the  Dem- 
ocratic side  in  the  great  debate  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  a  speech  at  the  court-house  during  this 
campaign,  indulged  in  some  fun  at  the  expense  of 
the  '*  Long  Nine,''  reflecting  somewhat  more  on 
Lincoln  than  the  rest.  The  latter  was  not  present, 
but  being  apprised  by  his  friends  of  what  had  been 
said,  hastened  to  the  meeting,  and  soon  after 
Thomas  closed,  stepped  upon  the  platform  and  re- 
sponded. The  substance  of  his  speech  on  this  oc- 
casion was  not  so  memorable  as  the  manner  of  its 
delivery.  He  felt  the  sting  of  Thomas's  allusions, 
and  for  the  first  time,  on  the  stump  or  in  pub- 
lic, resorted  to  mimicry  for  effect.  In  this,  as  will 
be  seen  later  along,  he  was  without  a  rival.  He 
imitated  Thomas  in  gesture  and  voice,  at  times  cari- 
caturing his  walk  and  the  very  motion  of  his  body. 
Thomas,  like  everybody  else,  had  some  peculiarities 
of  expression  and  gesture,  and  these  Lincoln  suc- 
ceeded in  rendering  more  prominent  than  ever. 
The  crowd  yelled  and  cheered  as  he  continued. 
Encouraged  by  these  demonstrations,  the  ludicrous 
features  of  the  speaker's  performance  gave  way  to 
intense  and  scathing  ridicule.  Thomas,  who  was 
obliged  to  sit  near  by  and  endure  the  pain  of 
this  unique  ordeal,  was  ordinarily  sensitive  ;  but  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 89 

exhibition  goaded  him  to  desperation.  He  was 
so  thoroughly  wrought  up  with  suppressed  emo- 
tion that  he  actually  gave  way  to  tears.  I  was  not  a 
witness  of  this  scene,  but  the  next  day  it  was  the 
talk  of  the  town,  and  for  years  afterwards  it  was 
called  the  **  skinning ''  of  Thomas.  Speed  was 
there,  so  were  A.  Y.  Ellis,  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  and 
David  Davis,  who  was  just  then  coming  into  promi- 
nence. The  whole  thing  was  so  unlike  Lincoln,  it 
was  not  soon  forgotten  either  by  his  friends  or  ene- 
mies. I  heard  him  afterwards  say  that  the  recollec- 
tion of  his  conduct  that  evening  filled  him  with  the 
deepest  chagrin.  He  felt  that  he  had  gone  too  far, 
and  to  rid  his  good-nature  of  a  load,  hunted  up 
Thomas  and  made  ample  apology.  The  incident 
and  its  sequel  proved  that  Lincoln  could  not  only 
be  vindictive  but  manly  as  well. 

He  was  selected  as  an  Elector  on  the  Harrison 
ticket  for  President  in  1840,  and  as  such  stumped 
over  a  good  portion  of  the  State.  In  debate  he  fre- 
quently met  Douglas,  who  had  already  become  the 
standard-bearer  and  exponent  of  Democratic  prin- 
ciples. These  joint  meetings  were  spirited  affairs 
sometimes  ;  but  at  no  time  did  he  find  the  Little 
Giant  averse  to  a  conflict.  **  He  was  very  sensi- 
tive,'* relates  one  of  his  colleagues  on  the  stump, 
"'  where  he  thought  he  had  failed  to  meet  the  expec- 
tations of  his  friends.  I  remember  a  case.  He  was 
pitted  by  the  Whigs  in  1840  to  debate  with  Mr. 
Douglas,  the  Democratic  champion.  Lincoln  did 
not  come  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  occasion. 
He  was  conscious  of  his  failure,  and   I  never  saw 


I  go  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

any  man  so  much  distressed.  He  begged  to  be  per- 
mitted to  try  it  again,  and  was  reluctantly  indulged; 
and  in  the  next  effort  he  transcended  our  highest 
expectations.*  I  never  heard  and  never  expect  to 
hear  such  a  triumphant  vindication  as  he  then  gave 
of  Whig  measures  or  policy.  He  never  after,  to  my 
knowledge,  fell  below  himself." 

The  campaign  ended  in  his  election  to  the  Legis- 
lature. He  was  again  the  caucus  nominee  of  the 
Whigs  for  Speaker,  receiving  thirty-six  votes ;  but 
his  former  antagonist,  William  L.  D.  Ewing,  was 
elected  by  a  majority  of  ten  votes  over  him.  The 
proceedings  of,  and  laws  enacted  by,  this  Legisla- 
ture are  so  much  a  matter  of  history  and  so  gener- 
ally known  that  it  seems  a  needless  task  on  my  part 
to  enter  into  details.  It  is  proper  to  note,  however, 
in  passing,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  neither  prompt  nor 
constant  in  his  attendance  during  the  sessiofi.  He 
had  been  to  a  certain  extent  "  upset  '*  by  another 
love  affair,  the  particulars  of  which  must  be  assigned 
to  a  future  chapter. 

*  Joseph  Gillespie,  MS.  letter,  June  5,  ^(£, 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  year  1840  finds  Mr.  Lincoln  entering  his 
thii  ty-second  year  and  still  unmarried.  ''  I  have 
come  to  the  conclusion/'  he  suggests  in  a  facetious 
lette-,  two  years  before,  ''  never  again  to  think^  of 
marr^  ng/'  But  meanwhile  he  had  seen  more  of 
the  wt.Hd.  The  State  Capital  had  been  removed 
to  Springfield,  and  he  soon  observed  the  power  and 
influence  one  can  exert  with  high  family  and  social 
surroundings  to  draw  upon.  The  sober  truth  is 
that  Lincoln  was  inordinately  ambitious.  He  had 
already  succeeded  in  obtaining  no  inconsiderable 
political  recognition,  and  numbered  among  his 
party  friends  men  of  wealth  and  reputation  ;  but  he 
himself  was  poor,  besides  lacking  the  graces  and 
ease  of  bearing  obtained  through  mingling  in  polite 
society — in  fact,  to  use  the  expressive  language  of 
Mary  Owens,  he  was  *'  deficient  in  those  little  links 
which  make  up  the  chain  of  woman's  happiness." 
Conscious,  therefore,  of  his  humble  rank  in  the  social 
scale,  how  natural  that  he  should  seek  by  mar- 
riage in  an  influential  family  to  establish  strong  con- 
nections and  at  the  same  time  foster  his  political 
fortunes !  This  may  seem  an  audacious  thing  to  in- 
sinuate, but  on  no  other  basis  can  we  reconcile  the 
strange  course  of  his  courtship  and  the  tempestuous 

191 


192 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


chapters  in  his  married  life.  It  is  a  curious  history, 
and  the  facts,  long  chained  down,  are  gradually  com- 
ingtothe  surface.  When  all  is  at  last  known,  the 
world  I  believe  will  divide  its  censure  between  Lin- 
coln and  his  wife. 

Mary  Todd,  who  afterwards  became  the  wife  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  was  born  in  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
December  13,  1818.  '*My  mother,'*  related  Mrs. 
Lincoln  to  me  in  1865,  '*  died  when  I  was  still  young. 
I  was  educated  by  Madame  Mantelli,  a  lady  who 
lived  opposite  Mr.  Clay's,  and  who  was  an  accom- 
plished French  scholar.  Our  conversation  at  school 
was  carried  on  entirely  in  French — in  fact  we  were 
allowed  to  speak  nothing  else.  I  finished  my  edu- 
cation at  Mrs.  Ward's  Academy,  an  institution  to 
which  many  people  from  the  North  sent  their 
daughters.  In  1837  I  visited  Springfield,  Illinois, 
remaining  three  months.  I  returned  to  Kentucky, 
remaining  till  1839,  when  I  again  set  out  for  Illi- 
nois, which  State  finally  became  my  home." 

The  paternal  grandfather  of  Mary  Todd,  General 
Levi  Todd,  was  born  in  1756,  was  educated  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  studied  law  in  the  office  of  General  Lewis 
of  that  State.  He  emigrated  to  Kentucky,  was  a 
lieutenant  in  the  campaigns  conducted  by  General 
George  Rogers  Clark  against  the  Indians,  and  com- 
manded a  battalion  in  the  battle  of  Blue  Licks, 
August  18,  1782,  where  his  brother,  John  Todd,  was 
killed.  He  succeeded  Daniel  Boone  in  command 
of  the  militia,  ranking  as  major-general,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Lexington,  Ky.  Febru- 
ary 25,    1779,   he  married   Miss  Jane  Briggs.     The 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 93 

seventh  child  of  this  union,  born  February  25,  179I, 
was  Robert  S.  Todd,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Lincoln. 
On  her  maternal  side  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  highly  con- 
nected. Her  great-grandfather,  General  Andrew 
Porter,  was  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  He  suc- 
ceeded Peter  Muhlenberg  as  major-general  of  the 
Pennsylvania  militia.  Her  great  uncles,  George  B. 
Porter,  who  was  governor  of  Michigan,  James  Mad- 
ison Porter,  secretary  of  the  navy  under  President 
Tyler,  and  David  R.  Porter,  governor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, were  men  of  ability  and  distinction.  Her 
mother,  Anne  Eliza  Parker,  was  a  cousin  of  her 
father,  Robert  S.  Todd.  The  latter  had  served  in 
both  houses  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature,  and  for 
over  twenty  years  was  president  of  the  Bank  of 
Kentucky  at  Lexington.     He  died  July  16,  1849. 

To  a  young  lady  in  whose  veins  coursed  the 
blood  that  had  come  down  from  this  long  and  dis- 
tinguished ancestral  line,  who  could  even  go  back 
in  the  genealogical  chart  to  the  sixth  century,  Lin- 
coln, the  child  of  Nancy  Hanks,  whose  descent  was 
dimmed  by  the  shadow  of  tradition,  was  finally 
united  in  marriage. 

When  Mary  Todd  came  to  her  sister's  house  in 
Springfield  in  1839,  she  was  in  her  twenty-first  year. 
She  was  a  young  woman  of  strong,  passionate 
nature  and  quick  temper,  and  had  ''  left  her  home 
in  Kentucky  to  avoid  living  under  the  same  roof 
with  a  stepmother.'*  "^  She  came  to  live  with  her 
oldest  sister,  Elizabeth,  who  was  the  wife  of  Lin- 

*  Mrs.  Edwards,  statement,  Aug.  3,  1887. 


194  TH^  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

coin's  colleague  in  the  Legislature,  Ninian  W. 
Edwards.  She  had  two  other  sisters,  Frances,  mar- 
ried to  Dr.  William  Wallace,  and  Anne,  who  after- 
wards became  the  wife  of  C.  M.  Smith,  a  prominent 
and  wealthy  merchant.  They  all  resided  in  Spring- 
field. She  was  of  the  average  height,  weighing 
when  I  first  saw  her  about  a  hundred  and  thirty 
pounds.  She  was  rather  compactly  built,  had  a  well 
rounded  face,  rich  dark-brown  hair,  and  bluish-gray 
eyes.  In  her  bearing  she  was  proud,  but  handsome 
and  vivacious.  Her  education  had  been  in  no  wise 
defective ;  she  was  a  good  conversationalist,  using 
with  equal  fluency  the  French  and  English  lan- 
guages. When  she  used  a  pen,  its  point  was  sure  to 
be  sharp,  and  she  wrote  with  wit  and  ability.  She 
not  only  had  a  quick  intellect  but  an  intuitive  judg- 
ment of  men  and  their  motives.  Ordinarily  she 
was  affable  and  even  charming  in  her  manners ;  but 
when  offended  or  antagonized,  her  agreeable  quali- 
ties instantly  disappeared  beneath  a  wave  of  sting, 
ing  satire  or  sarcastic  bitterness,  and  her  entire 
better  nature  was  submerged.  In  her  figure  and 
physical  proportions,  in  education,  bearing,  tempera- 
ment, history — in  everything  she  was  the  exact 
reverse  of  Lincoln. 

On  her  return  to  Springfield  she  immediately 
entered  society,  and  soon  became  one  of  the  belles, 
leading  the  young  men  of  the  town  a  merry  dance. 
She  was  a  very  shrewd  observer,  and  discreetly  and 
without  apparent  effort  kept  back  all  the  unattrac- 
tive elements  in  her  unfortunate  organization.  Her 
trenchant  wit,  affability,   and    candor  pleased  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLJM,  1 95 

young  men  not  less  than  her  culture  and  varied 
accomplishments  impressed  the  older  ones  with 
whom  she  came  in  contact.  The  first  time  I  met 
her  was  at  a  dance  at  the  residence  of  Col.  Robert 
Allen,  a  gentleman  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
chapter.  I  engaged  her  for  a  waltz,  and  as  we 
glided  through  it  I  fancied  I  never  before  had 
danced  with  a  young  lady  who  moved  with  such 
grace  and  ease.  A  few  moments  later,  as  we  were 
promenading  through  the  hall,  I  thought  to  com- 
pliment her  graceful  dancing  by  telling  her  that 
while  I  was  conscious  of  my  own  awkward  move- 
ments, she  seemed  to  glide  through  the  waltz  with 
the  ease  of  a  serpent.  The  strange  comparison  was 
as  unfortunate  as  it  was  hideous.  I  saw  it  in  an 
instant,  but  too  late  to  recall  it.  She  halted 
for  a  moment,  drew  back,  and  her  eyes  flashed 
as  she  retorted :  *^  Mr.  Herndon,  comparison  to  a 
serpent  is  rather  severe  irony,  especially  to  a  new- 
comer.'* 

Through  the  influence  of  Joshua  F.  Speed,  who 
was  a  warm  friend  of  the  Edwardses,  Lincoln  was 
led  to  call  on  Miss  Todd.  He  was  charmed  with  her 
wit  and  beauty,  no  less  than  by  her  excellent  social 
qualities  and  profound  knowledge  of  the  strong  and 
weak  points  in  individual  character.  One  visit  suc- 
ceeded another.  It  was  the  old  story,  Lincoln 
had  again  fallen  in  love.  ^*  I  have  often  happened 
in  the  room  where  they  were  sitting,**  relates  Mrs. 
Edwards,  describing  this  courtship,  ^'  and  Mary 
invariably  led  the  conversation.  Mr.  Lincoln  wouW 
sit  at  her  side  and  listen.     He  scarcely  said  a  woru 


196  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

but  gazed  on  her  as  if  irresistibly  drawn  towards 
her  by  some  superior  and  unseen  power.  He  could 
not  maintain  himself  in  a  continued  conversation 
with  a  lady  reared  as  Mary  was.  He  was  not  edu- 
cated and  equipped  mentally  to  make  himself  either 
interesting  or  attractive  to  the  ladies.  He  was  a 
good,  honest,  and  sincere  young  man  whose  rugged, 
manly  qualities  I  admired  ;  but  to  me  he  somehow 
seemed  ill-constituted  by  nature  and  education  to 
please  such  a  woman  as  my  sister.  Mary  was  quick, 
gay,  and  in  the  social  world  somewhat  brilliant. 
She  loved  show  and  power,  and  was  the  most  ambi- 
tious woman  I  ever  knew.  She  used  to  contend 
when  a  girl,  to  her  friends  in  Kentucky,  that  she 
was  destined  to  marry  a  President.  I  have  heard 
her  say  that  myself,  and  after  mingling  in  society  in 
Springfield  she  repeated  the  seemingly  absurd  and 
idle  boast.  Although  Mr.  Lincoln  seemed  to  be 
attached  to  Mary,  and  fascinated  by  her  wit  and 
sagacity,  yet  I  soon  began  to  doubt  whether  they 
could  always  be  so  congenial.  In  a  short  time  I 
told  Mary  my  impression  that  they  were  not  suited, 
or,  as  some  persons  who  believe  matches  are  made 
in  heaven  would  say,  not  intended  for  each  other.'' 
But  Mrs.  Edwards'  advice  was  seed  sown  on 
rocky  soil.  The  courtship  ran  on  smoothly  to  the 
point  of  engagement,  when  a  new  and  disturb- 
ing element  loomed  up  ahead  in  their  paths.  It 
was  no  less  than  the  dashing  and  handsome  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  who  now  •  appeared  on  the  scene  in 
the  guise  of  a  rival.  As  a  society  man  Douglas 
was  infinitely  more  accomplished,  more  attractive 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  1 97 

and  influential  than  Lincoln,  and  that  he  should 
supplant  the  latter  in  the  affections  of  the  proud 
and  aristocratic  Miss  Todd  is  not  to  be  marveled  at, 
He  was  unremitting  in  his  attentions  to  the  lady, 
promenaded  the  streets  arm-in-arm  with  her — 
frequently  passing  Lincoln — and  in  every  way 
made  plain  his  intention  to  become  the  latter's 
rival.  There  are  those  who  believe  this  warm 
reciprocation  of  young  Douglas*  affection  was  a 
mere  flirtation  on  Mary  Todd's  part,  intended 
to  spur  Lincoln  up,  to  make  him  more  de- 
monstrative, and  manifest  his  love  more 
positively  and  with  greater  fervor.  But  a  lady 
relative  who  lived  with  Lincoln  and  his  wife  for 
two  years  after  their  marriage  is  authority  for  the 
statement  coming  from  Mrs.  Lincoln  herself  that 
*'  she  loved  Douglas,  and  but  for  her  promise  to 
marry  Lincoln  would  have  accepted  him/'  The 
unfortunate  attitude  she  felt  bound  to  maintain 
between  these  two  young  men  ended  in  a  spell  of 
sickness.  Douglas,  still  hopeful,  was  warm  in  the 
race,  but  the  lady's  physician, — her  brother-in-law, — 
Dr.  William  Wallace,  to  whom  she  confided  the 
real  cause  of  her  illness,  saw  Douglas  and  induced 
him  to  end  his  pursuit,*  which  he  did  with  great 
reluctance. 

If  Miss  Todd  intended  by  her  flirtation  with 
Douglas  to  test  Lincoln's  devotion,  she  committed 
a  grievous  error.  If  she  believed,  because  he  was 
ordinarily  so  undemonstrative,  that  he  was  without 
.^-. ______ —  .^  I  •^ 

*  Mrs.  Harriett  Chapman,  statement,  Nov.  8,  1887. 


198  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

will-power  and  incapable  of  being  aroused,  she 
certainly  did  not  comprehend  the  man.  Lincoln 
began  now  to  feel  the  sting.  Miss  Todd's  spur  had 
certainly  operated  and  with  awakening  effect.  One 
evening  Lincoln  came  into  our  store  and  called  for 
his  warm  friend  Speed.  Together  they  walked 
back  to  the  fireplace,  where  Lincoln,  drawing 
from  his  pocket  a  letter,  asked  Speed  to  read  it. 
*'  The  letter,*'  relates  Speed,  ''  was  addressed  to 
Mary  Todd,  and  in  it  he  made  a  plain  statement  of 
his  feelings,  telling  her  that  he  had  thought  the 
matter  over  calmly  and  with  great  deliberation,  and 
now  felt  that  he  did  not  love  her  sufficiently  to 
warrant  her  in  marrying  him.  This  letter  he  de- 
sired me  to  deliver.  Upon  my  declining  to  do  so 
he  threatened  to  intrust  it  to  some  other  person's 
hand.  I  reminded  him  that  the  moment  he  placed 
the  letter  in  Miss  Todd's  hand,  she  would  have  the 
advantage  over  him.  '  Words  are  forgotten,*  I 
said,  *  misunderstood,  unnoticed  in  a  private  conver* 
sation,  but  once  put  your  words  in  writing  and  they 
stand  a  living  and  eternal  monument  against  you.' 
Thereupon  I  threw  the  unfortunate  letter  in  the 
fire.  '  Now/  I  continued,  *if  you  have  the  courage 
of  manhood,  go  see  Mary  yourself ;  tell  her,  if  you 
do  not  love  her,  the  facts,  and  that  you  will  not 
marry  her.  Be  careful  not  to  say  too  much,  and 
then  leave  at  your  earliest  opportunity.'  Thus 
admon^ished,  he  buttoned  his  coat,  and  with  a  rather 
determined  look  started  out  to  perform  the  serious 
duty  for  which  I  had  just  given  him  explicit  direc* 
tions." 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  199 

That  night  Speed  did  not  go  upstairs  to  bed 
with  us,  but  under  pretense  of  wanting  to  read, 
remained  in  the  store  below.  He  was  waiting  for 
Lincoln's  return.  Ten  o'clock  passed,  and  still  the 
interview  with  Miss  Todd  had  not  ended.  At 
length,  shortly  after  eleven,  he  came  stalking  in. 
Speed  was  satisfied,  from  the  length  of  Lincoln's 
stay,   that   his  directions  had   not   been    followed. 

*'  Well,  old  fellow,  did  you  do  as  I  told  you  and 
as  you  promised?**  were  Speed's  first  words. 

"Yes,  I  did,"  responded  Lincoln,  thoughtfully, 
"and  when  I  told  Mary  I  did  not  love  her,  she 
burst  into  tears  and  almost  springing  from  her 
chair  and  wringing  her  hands  as  if  in  agony,  said 
something  about  the  deceiver  being  himself  de- 
ceived."    Then  he  stopped. 

''What  else  did  you  say?'*  inquired  Speed, 
drawing  the  facts  from  him. 

"  To  tell  you  the  truth,  Speed,  it  was  too  much 
for  me.  I  found  the  tears  trickling  down  my  own 
cheeks.     I  caught  her  in  my  arms  and  kissed  her." 

"And  that's  how  you  broke  the  engagement," 
sneered  Speed.  "You  not  only  acted  the  fool, 
but  your  conduct  was  tantamount  to  a  renewal  of 
the  engagement,  and  in  decency  you  cannot  back 
down  now." 

"  Well,"  drawled  Lincoln,  "  if  I  am  in  again,  so 
be  it.     It's  done,  and  I  shall  abide  by  it."  * 

Convinced  now  that  Miss  Todd  regarded  the 
engagement  ratified, — instead  of  broken,  as  her  tall 

•  Statement,  Joshua  F.  Speed,  Sep.  ly,  1866,  MS. 


200  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

suitor  had  at  first  intended, — Lincoln  continued  his 
visits,  and  things  moved  on  smoothly  as  before. 
Douglas  had  dropped  out  of  the  race,  and  every- 
thing pointed  to  an  early  marriage.  It  was  prob- 
ably at  this  time  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edwards  began 
to  doubt  the  wisdom  of  the  marriage,  and  now  and 
then  to  intimate  the  same  to  the  lady  ;  but  they 
went  no  farther  in  their  opposition  and  placed  no 
obstacle  in  their  paths. 

The  time  fixed  for  the  marriage  was  the  first  day 
in  January,  1841.  Careful  preparations  for  the 
happy  occasion  were  made  at  the  Edwards  mansion. 
The  house  underwent  the  customary  renovation  ; 
the  furniture  was  properly  arranged,  the  rooms 
neatly  decorated,  the  supper  prepared,  and  the 
guests  invited.  The  latter  assembled  on  the  evening 
in  question,  and  awaited  in  expectant  pleasure  the 
interesting  ceremony  of  marriage.  The  bride,  be- 
decked in  veil  and  silken  gown,  and  nervously  toy- 
ing with  the  flowers  in  her  hair,  sat  in  the  adjoin- 
ing room.  Nothing  was  lacking  but  the  groom. 
For  some  strange  reason  he  had  been  delayed.  An 
hour  passed,  and  the  guests  as  well  as  the  bride  were 
becoming  restless.  But  they  were  all  doomed  to 
disappointment.  Another  hour  passed  ;  messengers 
were  sent  out  over  town,  and  each  returning  with 
the  same  report,  it  became  apparent  that  Lincoln, 
the  principal  in  this  little  drama,  had  purposely  failed 
to  appear  !  The  bride,  in  grief,  disappeared  to  her 
room  ;  the  wedding  supperwas  left  untouched  ;  the 
guests  quietly  and  wonderingly  withdrew  ;  the  lights 
in  the  Edwards  mansion  were  blown  out,  and  dark- 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  20I 

ness  settled  over  all  for  the  night.  What  the  feel- 
ings of  a  lady  as  sensitive,  passionate,  and  proud  as 
Miss  Todd  were  we  can  only  imagine — no  one  can 
ever  describe  them.  By  daybreak,  after  persistent 
search,  Lincoln*s  friends  found  him.  Restless, 
gloomy,  miserable,  desperate,  he  seemed  an  object 
of  pity.  His  friends,  Speed  among  the  number, 
fearing  a  tragic  termination,  watched  him  closely  in 
their  rooms  day  and  night.  *'  Knives  and  razors, 
and  every  instrument  that  could  be  used  for  self- 
destruction  were  removed  from  his  reach.**  *  Mrs. 
Edwards  did  not  hesitate  to  regard  him  as  insane, 
and  of  course  her  sister  Mary  shared  in  that  view. 
But  the  case  was  hardly  so  desperate.  His  condition 
began  to  improve  after  a  few  weeks,  and  a  letter 
written  to  his  partner  Stuart,  on  the  23d  of  January, 
1841,  three  weeks  after  the  scene  at  Edwards*  house, 
reveals  more  perfectly  how  he  felt.  He  says:  '*  I 
am  now  the  most  miserable  man  living.  If  what  I 
feel  were  equally  distributed  to  the  whole  human 
family,  there  would  not  be  one  cheerful  face  on 
earth.  Whether  I  shall  ever  be  better,  I  cannot  tell ; 
I  awfully  forebode  I  shall  not.  To  remain  as  I  am  is 
impossible.  I  must  die  or  be  better,  as  it  appears 
to  me.  .  .  I  fear  I  shall  be  unable  to  attend  to  any 
business  here,  and  a  change  of  scene  might  help  me. 
If  I  could  be  myself  I  would  rather  remain  at  home 
with  Judge  Logan.     I  can  write  no  more.** 

During  all  this  time  the  Legislature  to  which  Lin- 
coln belonged  was  in  special  session,  but  for  a  time 

^ ].  F.  Speed,  MS.  letter.  January  6,  1866. 


202  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

he  was  unable  to  attend.*^  Towards  the  close 
of  the  session,  however,  he  resumed  his  seat.  He 
took  little  if  any  part  in  the  proceedings,  made  no 
speeches,  and  contented  himself  with  answers  to 
the  monotonous  roll-call,  and  votes  on  a  few  of  the 
principal  measures.  After  the  adjournment  of  the 
Legislature,  his  warm  friend  Speed,  who  had  dis- 
posed of  his  interests  in  Springfield,  induced  Lin- 
coln to  accompany  him  to  Kentucky.  Speed^s 
parents  lived  in  a  magnificent  place  a  few  miles 
from  Louisville.  Their  farm  was  well  stocked,  and 
they,  in  the  current  phrase,  *^  lived  well.*'  Thither 
he  was  taken,  and  there  amid  the  quiet  surroundings 
he  found  the  **  change  of  scene ''  which  he  told 
Stuart  might  help  him.  He  was  living  under  the 
cloud  of  melancholia,  and  sent  to  the  Sangamon 
Journal  a  few  lines  under  the  gloomy  title  of  *^  Sui- 
cide.*' They  were  published  in  the  paper,  and  a 
few  years  since  I  hunted  over  the  files,  and  coming 
across  the  number  containing  them,  was  astonished 
to  find  that  some  one  had  cut  them  out.  I  have 
always  supposed  it  was  done  by  Lincoln  or  by  some 
one  at  his  instigation. 

Speed's  mother  was  much  impressed  with  the 
tall  and  swarthy  stranger  her  son  had  brought 
with  him.  She  was  a  God-fearing  mother,  and  be- 
sides aiding  to  lighten  his  spirits,  gave  him  a  Bible, 

*  His  illness  and  consequent  incapacity  for  duty  in  the  Legislature, 
continued  for  almost  three  weeks.  On  the  19th  of  January,  184 1, 
John  J.  Hardin  announced  his  illness  in  the  House.  Four  days 
afterward  he  wrote  the  letter  to  Stuart  from  which  I  have  quoted 
\  few  lines. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


203 


advising  him  to  read  it  and  by  adopting  its  precepts 
obtain  a  release  from  his  troubles  which  no  other 
agency,  in  her  judgment,  could  bring  him.  ''  He  was 
much  depressed.  At  first  he  almost  contemplated 
suicide.  In  the  deepest  of  his  depression  he  said  one 
day  he  had  done  nothing  to  make  any  human  being 
remember  that  he  had  lived  ;  and  that  to  connect  his 
name  with  the  events  transpiring  in  his  day  and  gen- 
eration, and  so  impress  himself  upon  them  as  to  link 
his  name  with  something  that  would  redound  to  the 
interest  of  his  fellow-men,  was  what  he  desired  to 
live  for."  "*  The  congenial  associations  at  the  Speed 
farm,t  the  freedom  from  unpleasant  reminders, 
the  company  of  his  staunch  friend,  and  above  all 
the  motherly  care  and  delicate  attentions  of  Mrs. 
Speed  exerted  a  marked  influence  over  Lincoln. 
He  improved  gradually,  day  by  day  gaining  strength 
and  confidence  in  himself,  until  at  last  the  great 
cloud  lifted  and  passed  away.  In  the  fall  he  and 
Speed  returned  to  Springfield.  At  this  point,  as 
affording  us  the  most  reliable  account  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's condition  and  views,  it  is  proper  to  insert  apor- 
tion  of  his  correspondence  with  Mr.  Speed.  For 
some  time  Mr.  Speed  was  reluctant  to  give  these 

♦Letter,  J.  F.  Speed,  February  9,  1866,  MS. 

t  At  the  time  of  Lincoln's  visit  at  the  Speed  mansion,  James  Speed, 
a  brother  of  Joshua,  and  afterward  Attorney-General  in  Lincoln's 
Cabinet,  was  practicing  law  in  Louisville.  Lincoln  came  into  his 
ofifice  daily.  "  He  read  my  books,"  related  Mr.  Speed  in  after  years  ; 
"  talked  with  me  about  his  life,  his  reading,  his  studies,  his  aspi- 
rations." Mr.  Speed  discredits  the  thought  that  Lincoln  was  insane 
at  the  time,  although  he  understood  he  was  saddened  and  melancholy 
over  an  unfortunate  love  affair. 


204 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


letters  to  the  world.  After  some  argument,  however, 
he  at  last  shared  my  view  that  they  were  properly 
a  matter  of  history,  and  sent  them  to  me,  accom- 
panied by  a  letter,  in  which  he  says : 

**  I  enclose  you  copies  of  all  the  letters  of  any 
interest  from  Mr.  Lincoln  to  me.  Some  explanation 
may  be  needed  that  you  may  rightly  understand 
their  import.  In  the  winter  of  1840  and  1841,  he 
was  unhappy  about  his  engagement  to  his  wife — 
not  being  entirely  satisfied  that  his  heart  was  going 
with  his  hand.  How  much  he  suffered  then  on  that 
account  none  knew  so  well  as  myself ;  he  disclosed 
his  whole  heart  to  me.^ 

*'  In  the  summer  of  1841  I  became  engaged  to  my 
wife.  He  was  here  on  a  visit  when  I  courted  her; 
and,  strange  to  say,  something  of  the  same  feeling 
which  I  regarded  as  so  foolish  in  him  took  posses- 
sion of  me  and  kept  me  very  unhappy  from  the  time 
of  my  engagement  until  I  was  married.  This  will 
explain  the  deep  interest  he  manifested  in  his  letters 
on  my  account. 

**  One  thing  is  plainly  discernible  ;  if  I  had  not 
been  married  and  happy — far  more  happy  than  I 
ever  expected  to  be — he  would  not  have  married." 

The  first  of  these  letters  is  one  which  he  gave 

*  Lincoln  wrote  a  letter — a  long  one  which  he  read  to  me — to  Dr. 
Drake  of  Cincinnati,  descriptive  of  his  case.  Its  date  would  be  in 
December,  1840,  or  early  in  January,  1841.  I  think  that  he  must 
have  informed  Dr.  Drake  of  his  early  love  for  Miss  Rutledge,  as 
there  was  a  part  of  the  letter  which  he  would  not  read.  .  .  I  remem- 
ber Dr.  Drake's  reply,  which  was,  that  he  would  not  undertake  to 
prescribe  for  him  without  a  personal  interview." — Joshua  F.  Speed. 
MS.  letter,  November  30,  1866. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  20$ 

Spe%,d  when  the  latter  started  on  his  journey  from 
Illinois  to  Kentucky.  It  bears  no  date,  but  was 
handed  him  January  i,  1842,  as  Speed  has  testified, 
in  another  letter  to  me,  that  he  left  Springfield  on 
that  day.  It  is  full  of  consolation  and  advice  how 
best  to  conduct  himself  when  the  periods  of  gloom 
which  he  feels  sure  will  follow  come  upon  his 
friend.  *' I  know/'  he  says,  **  what  the  painful 
point  with  you  is  at  all  times  when  you  are  un- 
happy ;  it  is  an  apprehension  that  you  do  not  love 
her  as  you  should.  What  nonsense  !  How  came 
you  to  court  her  ?  .  .  .  Did  you  court  her  for  her 
wealth  ?  Why,  you  say  she  had  none.  But  you  say 
you  reasoned  yourself  into  it.  What  do  you  mean 
by  that  ?  Was  it  not  that  you  found  yourself  un- 
able to  reason  yourself  out  of  it?  Did  you  not 
think,  and  partly  form  the  purpose,  of  courting  her 
the  first  time  you  ever  saw  her  or  heard  of  her  ? 
What  had  reason  to  do  with  it  at  that  early  stage  ? 
There  was  nothing  at  that  time  for  reason  to  work 
upon.  Whether  she  was  moral,  amiable,  sensible, 
or  even  of  good  character,  you  did  not  nor  could 
then  know,  except  perhaps  you  might  infer  the  last 
from  the  company  you  found  her  in.  .  ,  .  Say 
candidly,  were  not  those  heavenly  black  eyes  the 
whole  basis  of  all  your  reasoning  on  the  subject? 
After  you  and  I  had  once  been  at  the  residence, 
did  you  not  go  and  take  me  all  the  way  to  Lexing- 
ton and  back  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  get  to  see 
her  again  on  our  return  on  that  evening  to  take  a 
trip  for  that  express  object  ?  '' 

The  next  paragraph  is  significant  as  affording  us 


206  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

an  idea  of  how  the  writer  perhaps  viewed  Miss 
Todd's  flirtation  with  Douglas  :  *'  What  earthly 
consideration/*  he  asks,  ''  would  you  take  to  find  her 
scouting  and  despising  you  and  giving  herself  up  to 
another  ?  But  of  this  you  need  have  no  apprehen* 
sion,  and  therefore  you  cannot  bring  it  home  to 
your  feelings/* 

February  3,  he  writes  again,  acknowledging  re- 
ceipt of  a  letter  dated  January  25.  The  object  of 
Speed's  affection  had  been  ill,  and  her  condition  had 
greatly  intensified  his  gloomy  spirits.  Lincoln  prof- 
fers his  sympathy.  **  I  hope  and  believe,"  he  con- 
tinues,  *'  that  your  present  anxiety  about  her  health 
and  her  life  must  and  will  forever  banish  those 
horrid  doubts  which  I  know  you  sometimes  felt  as 
to  the  truth  of  your  affection  for  her.  If  they  can 
once  and  forever  be  removed  (and  I  almost  feel  a 
presentiment  that  the  Almighty  has  sent  your  pres- 
ent affliction  expressly  for  that  object),  surely  noth- 
ing can  come  in  their  stead  to  fill  their  immeasur- 
able  measure  of  misery  .  .  . 

**  It  really  appears  to  me  that  you  yourself  ought 
to  rejoice  and  not  sorrow  at  this  indubitable  evi- 
dence of  your  undying  affection  for  her.  Why, 
Speed,  if  you  did  not  love  her,  although  you  might 
not  wish  her  death,  you  would  most  certainly  be  re- 
signed to  it.  Perhaps  this  point  is  no  longer  a  ques- 
tion  with  you,  and  my  pertinacious  dwelling  upon  it 
is  a  rude  intrusion  upon  your  feelings.  If  so  you 
must  pardon  me.  You  know  the  hell  I  have  suf* 
fered  on  that  point,  and  how  tender  I  am  upon  it. 
Vou  know  I  do  not  mean  wrong.     I  have  been  quite 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLAT.  20/ 

clear  of  hypo  since  you  left,  even  better  than  I  was 
along  in  the  fall/* 

The  next  letter,  February  13,  was  written  on  the 
eve  of  Speed's  marriage.  After  assurances  of  his 
desire  to  befriend  him  in  everything,  he  suggests  : 
*'  But  you  will  always  hereafter  be  on  ground  that 
I  have  never  occupied,  and  consequently,  if  advice 
were  needed,  I  might  advise  wrong.  I  do  fondly 
hope,  however,  that  you  will  never  again  need  any 
comfort  from  abroad  ...  I  incline  to  think  it 
probable  that  your  nerves  will  occasionally  fail  you 
for  awhile  ;  but  once  you  get  them  firmly  graded 
now,  that  trouble  is  over  forever.  If  you  went 
through  the  ceremony  calmly  or  even  with  suffi- 
cient composure  not  to  excite  alarm  in  any  present, 
you  are  safe  beyond  question,  and  in  two  or  three 
monthsp  to  say  the  most,  will  be  the  happiest  of 
men.'* 

Meanwhile  Lincoln  had  been  duly  informed  of 
Speed's  marriage,  and  on  the  25th  he  responds: 
**  Yours  of  the  i6th,  announcing  that  Miss  Fanny 
and  you  are  *  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh,'  reached 
me  this  morning.  I  have  no  way  of  telling  how 
much  happiness  I  wish  you  both,  though  I  believe 
you  both  can  conceive  it.  I  feel  somewhat  jealous 
of  both  of  you  now.  You  will  be  so  exclusively 
concerned  for  one  another  that  I  shall  be  forgotten 
entirely  ...  I  shall  be  very  lonesome  without 
you.  How  miserably  things  seem  to  be  arranged 
in  this  world !  If  we  have  no  friends  we  have  no 
pleasure ;  and  if  we  have  them  we  are  sure  to  lose 
them,  and  be  doubly  pained  by  the  loss." 


208  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

In  another  letter,  written  the  same  day,  he  says,  **  I 
have  no  doubt  it  is  the  peculiar  misfortune  of  both 
you  and  me  to  dream  dreams  of  Elysium  far  ex- 
ceeding all  that  anything  earthly  can  realize.  Far 
short  of  your  dreams  as  you  may  be,  no  woman 
could  do  more  to  realize  them  than  that  same  black- 
eyed  Fanny.  If  you  could  but  contemplate  her 
through  my  imagination,  it  would  appear  ridiculous 
to  you  that  any  one  should  for  a  moment  think  of 
being  unhappy  with  her.  My  old  father  used  to 
have  a  saying,  that,  '  If  you  make  a  bad  bargain 
hug  it  ail  the  tighter,'  and  it  occurs  to  me  that  if 
the  bargain  just  closed  can  possibly  be  called  a  bad 
one  it  is  certainly  the  most  pleasant  one  for  apply^ 
ing  that  maxim  to  which  my  fancy  can  by  any 
effort  picture.** 

Speed  having  now  safely  married,  Lincoln's  mind 
began  to  turn  on  things  nearer  home.  His  rela- 
tions with  Mary  Todd  were  still  strained,  but  re- 
minders of  his  period  of  gloom  the  year  before 
began  now  to  bring  her  again  into  view.  In  a 
letter  to  Speed,  March  27,  he  says  : 

'*It  cannot  be  told  how  it  thrills  me  with  joy  to 
hear  you  say  you  are  '  far  happier  than  you  ever 
expected  to  be.'  That  much,  I  know,  is  enough.  I 
know  you  too  well  to  suppose  your  expectations 
were  not  at  least  sometimes  extravagant,  and  if  the 
reality  exceeds  them  all,  I  say,  *  Enough,  dear 
Lord.'  I  am  not  going  beyond  the  truth  when  I 
tell  you  that  the  short  space  it  took  me  to  read 
your  last  letter  gave  me  more  pleasure  than  the 
total  sum  of  all    I  have  enjoyed  since    that    fatal 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


209 


first  of  January,  1841.  Since  then  it  seems  to  me 
I  should  have  been  entirely  happy  but  for  the  never- 
absent  idea  that  there  is  one  still  unhappy  whom  I 
have  contributed  to  make  so.  That  kills  my  soul. 
I  cannot  but  reproach  myself  for  even  wishing  to  be 
happy  while  she  is  otherwise.  She  accompanied  a 
large  party  on  the  railroad  cars  to  Jacksonville  last 
Monday,  and  on  her  return  spoke,  so  that  I  heard 
of  it,  of  having  enjoyed  the  trip  exceedingly.  God 
be  praised  for  that !  *' 

The  last  paragraph  of  this  letter  contains  a  bit  of 
sentiment  by  Lincoln  in  acknowledgment  of  a  violet. 
In  the  margin  of  the  letter  which  he  gave  me.  Speed 
made  this  note  in  pencil:  '^The  violet  was  sent  by 
my  wife,  who  dropped  it  in  the  letter  as  I  was  in  the 
act  of  sealing  it.  How  beautiful  the  acknowledg- 
ment!*' This  is  the  paragraph:  *^The  sweet 
violet  you  enclosed  came  safely  to  hand,  but  it  was 
so  dry,  and  mashed  so  flat,  that  it  crumbled  to  dust 
at  the  first  attempt  to  handle  it.  The  juice  that 
mashed  out  of  it  stained  a  place  in  the  letter,  which 
I  mean  to  preserve  and  cherish  for  the  sake  of  her 
who  procured  it  to  be  sent.  My  renewed  good 
wishes  to  her.** 

Meanwhile  the  coldness  that  existed  between 
Lincoln  and  his  ^'Mary'*  was  gradually  passing 
away,  and  with  it  went  all  of  Lincoln's  resolution 
never  to  renew  the  engagement.  In  a  letter,  July  4, 
he  says  :  ''  I  must  gain  confidence  in  my  own  ability 
to  keep  my  resolves  when  they  are  made.  In  that 
ability  I  once  prided  myself  as  the  only  chief  gem 
of  my  character ;    that   gem  I  lo^t,  how  and  where 


210  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

you  know  too  well.  I  have  not  regained  it ;  and 
until  I  do  I  cannot  trust  myself  in  any  matter  of 
much  importance.  I  believe  now  that  had  you 
understood  my  case  at  the  time  as  well  as  I  under- 
stood yours  afterwards,  by  the  aid  you  would  have 
given  me  I  should  have  sailed  through  clear ;  but 
that  does  not  now  afford  me  sufficient  confidence  to 
begin  that  or  the  like  of  that  again.  ...  I  always 
was  superstitious ;  I  believe  God  made  me  one  of 
the  instruments  of  bringing  Fanny  and  you  to- 
gether, which  union  I  have  no  doubt  he  had  fore- 
ordained. Whatever  he  designs  he  will  do  for  me 
yet.  *  Stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord,* 
is  my  text  just  now.  If,  as  you  say,  you  have  told 
Fanny  all,  I  should  have  no  objection  to  her  seeing 
this  letter,  but  for  its  reference  to  our  friend  here ; 
let  her  seeing  it  depend  upon  whether  she  has  ever 
known  anything  of  my  affairs ;  and  if  she  has 
not,  do  not  let  her.  I  do  not  think  I  can  come  to 
Kentucky  this  season.  I  am  so  poor  and  make  so 
little  headway  in  the  world  that  I  drop  back  in  a 
month  of  idleness  as  much  as  I  gain  in  a  year's 
sowing.'* 

The  last  letter,  and  the  one  which  closes  this 
series,  was  written  October  5,  1842.  In  it  he  simply 
announces  his  '*  duel  with  Shields,''  and  then  goes 
on  to  **  narrate  the  particulars  of  the  duelling  busi- 
ness, which  still  rages  in  this  city."  This  referred 
to  a  challenge  from  the  belligerent  Shields  to 
William  Butler,  and 'another  from  General  White- 
sides  to  Dr.  Merryman.  In  the  latter,  Lincoln 
acted  as  the  **  friend  of  Merryman,"  but  in  neither 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  2  1 1 

case  was  there  any  encounter,  and  both  ended  in 
smoke.  The  concluding  paragraph  of  this  letter  is 
the  most  singular  in  the  entire  correspondence.  I 
give  it  entire  without  further  comment : 

'*But  I  began  this  letter  not  for  what  I  have 
been  writing,  but  to  say  something  on  that  subject 
which  you  know  to  be  of  such  infinite  solicitude  to 
me.  The  immense  sufferings  you  endured  from 
the  first  days  of  September  till  the  middle  of  Feb- 
ruary you  never  tried  to  conceal  from  me,  and  I 
well  understood.  You  have  now  been  the  husband 
of  a  lovely  "woman  nearly  eight  months.  That  you 
are  happier  now  than  the  day  you  married  her,  I 
well  know,  for  without,  you  could  not  be  living. 
But  I  have  your  word  for  it,  too,  and  the  returning 
elasticity  of  spirits  which  is  manifested  in  your 
letters.  But  I  want  to  ask  a  close  question  :  *  Are 
you  in  feeling  as  well  as  judgment  glad  you  are 
married  as  you  are  ?  '  From  anybody  but  me  this 
would  be  an  impudent  question,  not  to  be  tolerated, 
but  I  know  you  will  pardon  it  in  me.  Please 
answer  it  quickly,  as  I  am  impatient  to  know.** 

Lincoln  again  applied  himself  to  the  law.  He 
re-entered  the  practice,  after  the  long  hiatus  of  rest, 
with  renewed  vigor.  He  permitted  the  memory  of 
his  engagement  with  Mary  Todd  to  trouble  him  no 
longer.  Their  paths  had  diverged,  the  pain  of  the 
separation  was  over,  and  the  whole  thing  was  a 
history  of  the  past.  And  so  it  might  ever  have 
remained  but  for  the  intervention  of  a  very  shrewd 
and  sagacious  lady — one  who  was  capable  of 
achieving  success  anywhere  in  the  ranks  of  diplo- 


2 1 2  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

macy.  This  lady  was  the  wife  of  Simeon  Francis, 
the  editor  of  the  Sangamon  JournaL  She  was  a 
warm  friend  of  Mary  Todd  and  a  leader  in  society. 
Her  husband  was  warmly  attached  to  Lincoln.  He 
ran  the  Whig  organ,  and  entertained  great  admira- 
tion for  Lincoln's  brains  and  noble  qualities.  The 
esteem  was  mutual,  and  it  is  no  stretch  of  the  truth 
to  say  that  for  years  Lincoln  exercised  undisputed 
control  of  the  columns  of  the  Journal  himself. 
Whatever  he  wrote  or  had  written,  went  into  the 
editorial  page  without  question.  Mrs.  Francis, 
sharing  her  husband*s  views  of  Lincoln's  glorious 
possibilities,  and  desiring  to  do  Mary  Todd  a 
kindly  act,  determined  to  bring  about  a  reconcilia- 
tion. She  knew  that  Miss  Todd  had  by  letter  a 
few  days  after  ''that  fatal  first  of  January,  1841,'* 
as  Lincoln  styled  it,  released  him  from  the  en- 
gagement, and  that  since  then  their  relations  had 
been  strained,  if  not  entirely  broken  off.  As  she 
viewed  it,  a  marriage  between  a  man  as  promising 
in  the  political  world  as  Lincoln,  and  a  woman  as 
accomplished  and  brilliant  in  society  as  Mary  Todd, 
would  certainly  add  to  the  attractions  of  Spring- 
field and  reflect  great  credit  on  those  who  brought 
the  union  about.  She  was  a  great  social  enter- 
tainer, and  one  day  arranged  a  gathering  at  her 
house  for  the  express  purpose  of  bringing  these 
two  people  together.  Both  were  invited  and  both 
attended  ;  but  neither  suspected  the  other's  pres- 
ence. Having  arranged  things  so  ingeniously  and 
with  so  much  discretion,  it  was  no  difficult  task  for 
the  hostess  to  bring  the  couple  together  by  a  warm 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


213 


introduction  and  the  encouraging  admonition,  *'  Be 
friends  again/'  Much  to  the  surprise  of  both  they 
found  the  web  woven  around  them.  They  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  the  reconciliation,  and  found  Mrs. 
Francis'  roof  an  inviting  place  for  many  succeeding 
meetings.  A  wall  reared  itself  between  them  and 
the  past,  and  they  started  again  under  the  auspi- 
cious omens  of  another  engagement.  The  tact  of 
a  woman  and  the  diplomacy  of  society  had  accom- 
plished what  love  had  long  since  despaired  of  ever 
doing  or  seeing  done. 

The  meetings  in  the  parlor  of  Mrs.  Francis' 
house  were  conducted  with  no  little  privacy.  At 
first  even  Mrs.  Edwards  knew  nothing  of  it,  but 
presently  it  came  to  her  ears.  '*  I  asked  Mary," 
said  this  lady,  ''  why  she  was  so  secretive  about  it. 
She  said  evasively  that  after  all  that  had  occurred,  it 
was  best  to  keep  the  courtship  from  all  eyes  and 
ears.  Men  and  women  and  the  whole  world  were 
uncertain  and  slippery,  and  if  misfortune  befell  the 
engagement  all  knowledge  of  it  would  be  hidden 
from  the  world."  ^ 

It  is  unnecessary  to  prolong  the  account  of  this 
strange  and  checkered  courtship.  The  intervention 
of  the  affair  with  Shields,  which  will  be  detailed  in 
a  subsequent  chapter,  in  no  way  impeded,  if  it  did 
not  hasten  the  marriage.  One  morning  in  Novem- 
ber, Lincoln,  hastening  to  the  room  of  his  friend 
James  H.  Matheney  before  the  latter  had  arisen 
from  bed,  informed  him  that  he  was  to  be  married 

*  Statement,  January  10,  1866,  MS. 


214  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

that  night,  and  requested  him  to  attend  as  best 
man.^  That  same  morning  Miss  Todd  called  on  her 
friend  Julia  M.  Jayne,  who  afterward  married 
Lyman  Trumbull,  and  made  a  similar  request.  The 
Edwardses  were  notified,  and  made  such  meager 
preparations  as  were  possible  on  so  short  notice. 
License  was  obtained  during  the  day,  the  minister, 
Charles  N.  Dresser,f  was  sent  for,  and  in  the  evening 
of  November  4,  1842,  "as  pale  and  trembling  as  if 


*  "  Marriages  in  Springfield  up  to  that  time  had  been  rather  com- 
monplace affairs.  Lincoln's  was  perhaps  the  first  one  ever  performed 
with  all  the  requirements  of  the  Episcopal  ceremony.  A  goodly 
number  of  friends  had  gathered,  and  while  witnessing  the  ceremony 
one  of  the  most  amusing  incidents  imaginable  occurred.  No  descrip- 
tion on  paper  can  do  it  justice.  Among  those  present  was  Thomas 
C.  ^rown,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  was  in 
truth  an  "  old-timer,"  and  had  the  virtue  of  saying  just  what  he 
thought,  without  regard  to  place  or  surroundings.  He  had  been  on 
the  bench  for  many  years  and  was  not  less  rough  than  quaint  and 
curious.  There  was,  of  course,  a  perfect  hush  in  the  room  as  the 
ceremony  progressed.  Brown  was  standing  just  behind  Lincoln. 
Old  Parson  Dresser,  in  canonical  robes,  with  much  and  impressive 
solemnity  recited  the  Episcopal  service.  He  handed  Lincoln  the 
ring,  who,  placing  it  on  the  bride's  finger,  repeated  the  Church 
formula,  *  With  this  ring  I  thee  endow  with  all  my  goods  and  chat- 
tels, lands  and  tenements.*  Brown,  who  had  never  witnessed  such  a 
proceeding,  was  struck  with  its  utter  absurdity.  *God  Almighty! 
Lincoln,'  he  ejaculated,  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  all,  *  the  statute 
fixes  all  that ! '  This  unlooked-for  interruption  almost  upset  the  old 
parson  ;  he  had  a  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  and  for  the  moment  it 
seemed  as  if  he  would  break  down ;  but  presently  recovering  his 
gravity,  he  hastily  pronounced  them  husband  and  wife." — Letter, 
James  H.  Matheney,  MS.,  Aug.  21,  1888. 

t  "  My  father.  Rev.  Charles  Dresser,  was  a  graduate  of  Brown 
University,  Providence,  R.  I.,  of  the  class  of  182'^." — Thomas  Wo 
Dresser,  MS.  letter,  Sept.  17,  1888. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


215 


being  driven  to  slaughter/'  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
at  last  married  to  Mary  Todd."^ 

One  great  trial  of  his  life  was  now  over,  and 
another  still  greater  one  was  yet  to  come.  To  me 
it  has  always  seemed  plain  that  Mr.  Lincoln  mar 
ried  Mary  Todd  to  save  his  honor,  and  in  doing 
that  he  sacrificed  his  domestic  peace.  He  had 
searched  himself  subjectively,  introspectively, 
thoroughly :  he  knew  he  did  not  love  her,  but  he 
had  promised  to  marry  her  !  The  hideous  thought 
came  up  like  a  nightmare.  As  the  '^  fatal  first  of 
January,  1841,''  neared,  the  clouds  around  him 
blackened  the  heavens  and  his  life  almost  went 
out  with  the  storm.  But  soon  the  skies  cleared. 
Friends  interposed  their  aid  to  avert  a  calamity,  and 
at  last  he  stood  face  to  face  with  the  great  conflict 
between  honor  and  domestic  peace.  He  chose  the 
former,  and  with  it  years  of  self-torture,  sacrificial 
pangs,  and  the  loss  forever  of  a  happy  home. 

With  Miss  Todd  a  different  motive,  but  one 
equally  as  unfortunate,  prompted  her  adherence  to 
the  union.  To  marry  Lincoln  meant  not  a  life  of 
luxury  and  ease,  for  Lincoln  was  not  a  man  to  ac- 
cumulate wealth  ;  but  in  him  she  saw  position  in  soci- 
ety, prominence  in  the  world,  and  the  grandest  so- 
cial distinction.  By  that  means  her  ambition  would 
be  satisfied.  Until  that  fatal  New  Year's  day  in 
1841  she  may  have  loved  him,  but  his  action   on 

*  While  dressing  for  the  wedding  in  his  room  at  Butler's  house, 
the  latter^s  little  boy.  Speed,  seeing  Lincoln  so  handsomely  attired,  in 
boyish  innocence  asked  him  where  he  was  going  ?  "  To  hell,  I  sup- 
pose,''  was  Lincoln's  reply. 


2l6  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

that  occasion  forfeited  her  affection.  He  had 
crushed  her  proud,  womanly  spirit.  She  felt  de- 
graded  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Love  fled  at  the 
approach  of  revenge.  Some  writer — it  is  Junius,  I 
believe — has  said  that,  *^  Injuries  may  be  forgiven 
and  forgotten,  but  insults  admit  of  no  compensation  : 
they  degrade  the  mind  in  its  own  self-esteem  and 
force  it  to  recover  its  level  by  revenge.*'  Whether 
Mrs.  Lincoln  really  was  moved  by  the  spirit  of  re- 
venge or  not  she  acted  along  the  lines  of  human 
conduct.  She  led  her  husband  a  wild  and  merry 
dance.  If,  in  time,  she  became  soured  at  the  world 
it  was  not  without  provocation,  and  if  in  later  years 
she  unchained  the  bitterness  of  a  disappointed  and 
outraged  nature,  it  followed  as  logically  as  an  effect 
does  the  cause. 

I  have  told  this  sad  story  as  I  know  and  have 
learned  it.  In  rehearsing  the  varied  scenes  of  the 
drama,"^  I  have  unearthed  a  few  facts  that  seem  half- 

*  For  many  years  I  had  reason  to  believe  that  Sarah  Rickard,  who 
was  a  sister  of  Mrs.  William  Butler,  had  been  the  recipient  of  some 
attentions  at  the  hand  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  lady,  long  since  mar- 
ried, is  now  living  in  a  Western  State.  I  applied  to  her  for  informa- 
tion recently,  and  after  some  entreaty  received  this  answer  in  her 
own  handwriting :  "  As  an  old  friend  I  will  answer  the  question 
propounded  to  me,  though  I  can  scarcely  see  what  good -it  can  do 
history.  Mr.  Lincoln  did  make  a  proposal  of  marriage  to  me  in  the 
summer,  or  perhaps  later,  in  the  year  of  1840.  He  brought  to  my 
attention  the  accounts  in  the  Bible  of  the  patriarch  Abraham's  mar- 
riage to  Sarah,  and  used  that  historical  union  as  an  argument  in  his 
own  behalf.  My  reason  for  declining  his  proposal  was  the  wide 
difference  in  our  ages.  I  was  then  only  sixteen,  and  had  given  the 
subject  of  matrimony  but  very  little,  if  any,  thought.  I  entertained 
the  highest  regard  for  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  seemed  almost  like  an 
older  brother,  being,  as  it  were,  one  of  my  sister's  family.'* 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  2 1  / 

buried,  perhaps,  but  they  were  not  destined  to  lay 
buried  deep  or  long.  The  world  will  have  the  truth 
as  long  as  the  name  of  Lincoln  is  remembered  by 
mankind. 

There  were  two  things  Mr.  Lincoln  always 
seemed  willing  to  forget.  One  was  his  unparlia- 
mentary escape  with  Joseph  Gillespie  from  the  Leg- 
islature by  jumping  through  the  church  window,  in 
1839,  ^"d  the  other  was  the  difficulty  with  James 
Shields,  or,  as  he  expressed  it  in  a  letter  to  Speed, 
the  "  duel  with  Shields.''  Other  incidents  in  his 
career  he  frequently  called  up  in  conversation  with 
friends,  but  in  after  years  he  seldom  if  ever  referred 
to  the  affair  with  Shields.  People  in  Illinois  did 
gradually  forget  or,  at  least,  cease  mention  of  it, 
but  in  more  remote  quarters  where  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  less  extensively  known,  the  thing,  much  to  his 
regret,  kept  rising  to  the  surface.  During  a  visit 
which  I  made  to  the  Eastern  States  in  1858,  I  was 
often  asked  for  an  account  of  the  so-called  duel ;  so 
often,  in  fact,  that  on  my  return  home  I  told  Mr. 
Lincoln  of  it.  '*  If  all  the  good  things  I  have  ever 
done,**  he  said  regretfully,  "  are  remembered  as  long 
and  well  as  my  scrape  with  Shields,  it  is  plain  I  shall 
not  soon  be  forgotten.** 

James  Shields,  a  *' gallant,  hot-headed  bachelor 
from  Tyrone  county,  Ireland,**  and  a  man  of  inor- 
dinate  vanity,  had  been  elected  Auditor  of  State. 
Encouraged  somewhat  by  the  prominence  the  office 
gave  him,  he  at  once  assumed  a  conspicuous  posi- 
tion in  the  society  of  Springfield.  He  was  ex- 
tremely  sensitive  by  nature,  but  exposed  himself  to 


21 8  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN-. 

merciless  ridicule  by  attempting  to  establish  his 
supremacy  as  a  beau  among  the  ladies.  Blind  to 
his  own  defects,  and  very  pronounced  in  support  of 
every  act  of  the  Democratic  party,  he  made  himself 
the  target  for  all  the  bitterness  and  ridicule  of  the 
day.  It  happened  that  the  financial  resources  of 
the  State,  owing  to  the  collapse  of  the  great  inter- 
nal  improvement  system,  were  exceedingly  limited, 
and  people  were  growing  restless  under  what  they 
deemed  excessive  taxation.  The  State  officers  were 
all  Democrats,  and  during  the  summer  they  issued 
an  order  declining  to  receive  any  more  State  Bank- 
notes or  bills  in  payment  of  taxes.  This  made  the 
tax-payer's  burdens  greater  than  ever,  as  much  of 
this  paper  remained  outstanding  in  the  hands  of  the 
people.  The  order  met  with  opposition  from  every 
quarter — the  Whigs  of  course  losing  no  opportunity 
to  make  it  as  odious  as  possible.  It  was  perfectly 
natural,  therefore,  that  such  an  ardent  Whig  as 
Lincoln  should  join  in  the  popular  denunciation. 
Through  the  columns  of  the  Springfield  Journal,  of 
which  he  had  the  undisputed  use,  he  determined  to 
encourage  the  opposition  by  the  use  of  his  pen. 
No  object  seemed  to  merit  more  ridicule  and  carica- 
ture than  the  conspicuous  figure  of  the  Auditor  of 
State.  At  this  time  Lincoln  was  enjoying  stolen 
conferences  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  Mrs. 
Francis  with  Mary  Todd  and  her  friend  Julia  M. 
Jayne.  These  two  young  ladies,  to  whom  he  con- 
fided his  purpose,  encouraged  it  and  offered  to  lend 
their  aid.     Here  he  caught  the   idea  of  puncturing 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN-,  2 1 9 

Shields.  The  thing  took  shape  in  an  article  pub- 
lished in  tYi^Journaly  purporting  to  have  come  from 
a  poor  widow,  who  with  her  pockets  full  of  State 
Bank  paper  was  still  unable  to  obtain  the  coveted 
receipt  for  her  taxes.  It  was  written  by  Lincoln 
and  was  headed : 

A  Letter  from  the  Lost  Townships. 

Lost  Townships,  August  27,1842. 
Dear  Mr.  Printer, 

I  see  you  printed  that  long  letter  I  sent  you  a 
spell  ago.  Fm  quite  encouraged  by  it,  and  can*t 
keep  from  writing  again.  I  think  the  printing  of 
my  letters  will  be  a  good  thing  all  round — it  will 
give  me  the  benefit  of  being  known  by  the  world, 
and  give  the  world  the  advantage  of  knowing  what*s 
going  on  in  the  Lost  Townships,  and  give  your 
paper  respectability  besides.  So  here  comes 
another.  Yesterday  afternoon  I  hurried  through 
cleaning  up  the  dinner  dishes  and  stepped  over  to 

neighbor  S to  see  if  his  wife  Peggy  was  as  well 

as  mout  be  expected,  and  hear  what  they  called  the 
baby.  Well,  when  I  got  there  and  just  turned 
round  the  corner  of  his  log  cabin,  there  he  was,  set- 
ting on  the  doorstep  reading  a  newspaper.  "-  How 
are  you,  Jeff?"  says  L  He  sorter  started  when  he 
heard  me,  for  he  hadn't  seen  me  before.  ''Why,*' 
says  he,  "  I'm  mad  as  the  devil.  Aunt  'Becca ! " 
*'What  about?"  says  I ;  ''ain't  its  hair  the  right 
color?  None  of  that  nonsense,  Jeff;  there  ain't  an 
honester  women  in  the  Lost  Townships  than  " — 
'^Than  who? "says  he;  "what  the  mischief  are 
you  about?"  I  began  to  see  I  was  running  the 
wrong  trail,  and  so  says  I,  *'  Oh !  nothing:  I  guess 
I  was  mistaken  a  little,  that's  all.  But  what  is  it 
you're  mad  about  ?  " 

"  Why/'   says  he,  "  I've  been  tugging  ever  since 


220  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

harvest,  getting  out  wheat  and  hauling  it  to  the 
river  to  raise  State  Bank  paper  enough  to  pay  my 
tax  this  year  and  a  Httle  school  debt  I  owe  ;  and 
now,  just  as  IVe  got  it,  here  I  open  this  infernal 
Extra  Register,  expecting  to  find  it  full  of  *  Glo- 
rious Democratic  Victories '  and  '  High  Comb'd 
Cocks,'  when,  lo  and  behold !  I  find  a  set  of  fellows, 
calling  themselves  officers  of  the  State,  have  forbid- 
den the  tax  collectors  and  school  commissioners  to 
receive  State  paper  at  all ;  and  so  here  it  is  dead  on 
my  hands.  I  don't  now  believe  all  the  plunder  I've 
got  will  fetch  ready  cash  enough  to  pay  my  taxes 
and  that  school  debt." 

I  was  a  good  deal  thunderstruck  myself ;  for  that 
was  the  first  I  had  heard  of  the  proclamation,  and 
my  old  man  was  pretty  much  in  the  same  fix  with 
Jeff.  We  both  stood  a  moment  staring  at  one 
another  without  knowing  what  to  say.     At  last  says 

I,  ''  Mr.  S ,  let    me    look  at  that  paper."     He 

handed  it  to  me,  when  I  read  the  proclamation 
over. 

^*  There  now,"  says  he,  **  did  you  ever  see  such  a 
piece  of  impudence  and  imposition  as  that?"  I 
saw  Jeff  was  in  a  good  tune  for  saying  some  ill- 
natured  things,  and  so  I  tho't  I  would  just  argue  a 
little  on  the  contrary  side,  and  make  him  rant  a 
spell  if  I  could.  "'  Why,"  says  I,  looking  as  digni- 
fied and  thoughtful  as  I  could,  **  it  seems  pretty 
tough,  to  be  sure,  to  have  to  raise  silver  where 
there's  none  to  be  raised  ;  but  then,  you  see,  *  thefe 
will  be  danger  of  loss '  if  it  ain't  done." 

*' Loss!  damnation  !  "  says  he.  **  I  defy  Daniel 
Webster,  I  defy  King  Solomon,  I  defy  the  world — 
I  defy — I  defy — yes,  I  defy  even  you.  Aunt  'Becca, 
to  show  how  the  people  can  lose  anything  by  pay- 
ing their  taxes  in  State  paper." 

''  Well,"  says  I,  *'  you  see  what  the  officers  of  State 
say  about  it,  and  they  are  a  desarnin'  set  of  men-^ 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  221 

But,"  says  I,  **  I  guess  you're  mistaken  about  what 
the  proclamation  says.  It  don't  say  the  people  will 
lose  anything  by  the  paper  money  being  taken  for 
taxes.  It  only  says  '  there  will  be  danger  of  loss  '  ; 
and  though  it  is  tolerable  plain  that  the  people  can't 
lose  by  paying  their  taxes  in  something  they  can 
get  easier  than  silver,  instead  of  having  to  pay  sil- 
ver ;  and  though  it's  just  as  plain  that  the  State 
can't  lose  by  taking  State  Bank  paper,  however  lov\; 
it  may  be,  while  she  owes  the  bank  more  than  the 
whole  revenue,  and  can  pay  that  paper  over  on  her 
debt,  dollar  for  dollar ; — still  there  is  danger  of  loss 
to  the  *  officers  of  State  * ;  and  you  know,  Jeff,  we 
can't  get  along  without  officers  of  State." 

'*  Damn  officers  of  State  !  "  says  he  ;  *^  that's  what 
Whigs  are  always  hurrahing  for." 

"  Now,  don't  swear  so,  Jeff,"  says  I  ;  "  you  know 
I  belong  to  the  meetin',  and  swearin'  hurts  my  feel- 
ings." 

'*Beg  pardon,  Aunt  'Becca,"  says  he;  **but  I  do 
say  it's  enough  to  make  Dr.  Goddard  swear,  to  have 
tax  to  pay  in  silver,  for  nothing  only  that  Ford  may 
get  his  two  thousand  a  year,  and  Shields  his  twenty- 
four  hundred  a  year,  and  Carpenter  his  sixteen  hun- 
dred a  year,  and  all  without  *  danger  of  loss'  by  tak- 
ing it  in  State  paper.  Yes,  yes  :  it's  plain  enough 
now  what  these  officers  of  State  mean  by  *  danger 
of  loss.'  Wash,  I  s'pose,  actually  lost  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars  out  of  the  three  thousand  that  two  of 
these  *  officers  of  State  '  let  him  steal  from  the  treas- 
ury, by  being  compelled  to  take  it  in  State  paper. 
Wonder  if  we  don't  have  a  proclamation  before 
long,  commanding  us  to  make  up  this  loss  to  Wash 
in  silver." 

And  so  he  went  on  till  his  breath  run  out,  and  he 
had  to  stop.  I  couldn't  think  of  anything  to  say 
just  then,  and  so  I  begun  to   look  over  the  paper 


222  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

again.  "'  Ay !  here's  another  proclamation,  or  some, 
thing  like  it.'* 

*' Another?"  says  Jeff;  '*and  whose  ^g^  is  it, 
pray?'* 

I  looked  to  the  bottom  of  it,  and  read  aloud, 
**  Your  obedient  servant,  James  Shields,  Auditor." 

**  Aha!"  says  Jeff,  ''one  of  them  same  three  fel- 
lows again.  Well,  read  it,  and  let's  hear  what  of 
it." 

I  read  on  till  I  came  to  where  it  says,  *'  The  object 
of  this  measure  is  to  suspend  the  collection  of  the 
revenue  for  the  current  year." 

**  Now  stop,  now  stop!  "says  he;  *' that's  a  lie 
a'ready,  and  I  don't  want  to  hear  of  it." 

**  Oh  !  may  be  not,"  says  I. 

**  I  say  it — is — a — lie.  Suspend  the  collection, 
indeed  !  Will  the  collectors,  that  have  taken  their 
oaths  to  make  the  collection,  dare  to  suspend  it  ? 
Is  there  anything  in  law  requiring  them  to  perjure 
themselves  at  the  bidding  of  James  Shields? 

"  Will  the  greedy  gullet  of  the  penitentiary  be  sat- 
isfied with  swallowing  him  instead  of  all  of  them,  if 
they  should  venture  to  obey  him  ?  And  would  he 
not  discover  some  '  danger  of  loss,'  and  be  off  about 
the  time  it  came  to  taking  their  places? 

"  And  suppose  the  people  attempt  to  suspend, 
by  refusing  to  pay ;  what  then  ?  The  collec- 
tors would  just  jerk  up  their  horses  and  cows,  and 
the  like,  and  sell  them  to  the  highest  bidder  for 
silver  in  hand,  without  valuation  or  redemption. 
Why,  Shields  didn't  believe  that  story  himself :  it 
was  never  meant  for  the  truth.  If  it  was  true,  why 
was  it  not  writ  till  five  days  after  the  proclamation  ? 
Why  didn't  Carlin  and  Carpenter  sign  it  as  well  as 
Shields?  Answer  me  that,  Aunt  'Becca.  I  say  it's 
a  lie,  and  not  a  well  told  one  at  that.  It  grins  out 
like  a  copper  dollar.  Shields  is  a  fool  as  well  as  a 
liar.    With  him  truth  is  out  of  the    question ;  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLAT.  223 

as  for  getting  a  good,  bright,  passable  lie  out  of 
him,  you  might  as  well  try  to  strike  fire  from  a  cake 
of  tallow.  I  stick  to  it,  it's  all  an  infernal  Whig 
lie  !  '' 

''  A  Whig  lie  !  Highty  tighty  ! '' 
^'Yes,  aWhig  lie;  and  it's  just  like  everything 
the  cursed  British  Whigs  do.  First  they'll  do  some 
divilment,  and  then  they'  11  tell  a  lie  to  hide  it. 
And  they  don't  care  how  plain  a  lie  it  is  :  they 
think  they  can  cram  any  sort  of  a  one  down  the 
throats  of  the  ignorant  Locofocos,  as  they  call  the 
Democrats." 

'*  Why,  Jeff,  you're  crazy :  you  don't  mean  to  say 
Shields  is  a  Whig!" 

''  Yes,  I  do." 

"  Why,  look  here !  the  proclamation  is  in  your 
own  Democratic  paper,  as  you  call  it." 

**  I  know  it  ;  and  what  of  that  ?  They  only 
printed  it  to  let  us  Democrats  see  the  deviltry  the 
Whigs  are  at.*' 

"  Well,  but  Shields  is  the  auditor  of  this  Loco — 
I  mean  this  Democratic  State." 

**  So  he  is,  and  Tyler  appointed  him  to  office." 

'^  Tyler  appointed  him  ?  " 

'*  Yes(if  you  must  chaw  it  over),  Tyler  appointed 
him  ;  or,  if  it  wasn't  him,  it  was  old  Granny  Harri- 
son, and  that's  all  one.  I  tell  you,  Aunt  'Becca, 
there's  no  mistake  about  his  being  a  Whig.  Why, 
his  very  looks  shows  it ;  everything  about  him  shows 
it :  if  I  was  deaf  and  blind,  I  could  tell  him  by  the 
smell.  I  seed  him  when  I  was  down  in  Springfield 
last  winter.  They  had  a  sort  of  a  gatherin'  there  one 
night  among  the  grandees,  they  called  a  fair.  All 
the  gals  about  town  was  there,  and  all  the  handsome 
widows  and  married  women,  finickin'  about  trying 
to  look  like  gals,  tied  as  tight  in  the  middle,  and 
puffed  out  at  both  ends,  like  bundles  of  fodder  that 
hadn't  been  stacked  yet,  but  wanted  stackin'  pretty 


224  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

bad.  And  then  they  had  tables  all  around  the 
house  kivered  over  with  [  ]  caps  and  pincush- 

ions and  ten  thousand  such  little  knic-knacks,  tryin* 
to  sell  'em  to  the  fellows  that  were  bowin'  and 
scrapin'  and  kungeerin'  about  'em.  They  wouldn't 
let  no  Democrats  in,  for  fear  they'd  disgust  the 
ladies,  or  scare  the  little  gals,  or  dirty  the  floor.  I 
looked  in  at  the  window,  and  there  was  this  same 
fellow  Shields  floatin'  about  on  the  air,  without  heft 
or  earthly  substances,  just  like  a  lock  of  cat  fur 
where  cats  had  been  fighting. 

**  He  was  paying  his  money  to  this  one,  and  that 
one,  and  t'other  one,  and  sufferin'  great  loss  because 
it  wasn't  silver  instead  of  State  paper ;  and  the 
sweet  distress  he  seemed  to  be  in, — his  very  feat- 
ures, in  the  ecstatic  agony  of  his  soul,  spoke  audibly 
and  distinctly,  *  Dear  girls,  it  is  distressing,  but  I 
cannot  marry  you  all.  Too  well  I  know  how  much 
you  suffer  ;  but  do,  do  remember,  it  is  not  my  fault 
that  I  am  so  handsome  and  so  interesting.' 

"  As  this  last  was  expressed  by  a  most  exquisite 
contortion  of  his  face,  he  seized  hold  of  one  of  their 
hands,  and  squeezed,  and  held  on  to  it  about  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour.  *  Oh,  my  good  fellow  ! '  says  I  to 
myself,  *if  that  was  one  of  our  Democratic  gals  in 
the  Lost  Townships,  the  way  you'd  get  a  brass  pin 
let  into  you  would  be  about  up  to  the  head.'  He 
a  Democrat !  Fiddlesticks  !  I  tell  you.  Aunt  'Becca, 
he's  a  Whig,  and  no  mistake  :  nobody  but  a  Whig 
could  make  such  a  conceity  dunce  of  himself." 

"  Well,"  says  I,  "  maybe  he  is  ;  but,  if  he  is,  Fm 
mistaken  the  worst  sort.  Maybe  so,  maybe  so; 
but,  if  I  am,  I'll  suffer  by  it ;  I'll  be  a  Democrat  if 
it  turns  out  that  Shields  is  a  Whig,  considerin'  you 
shall  be  a  Whig  if  he  turns  out  a  Democrat." 

**A  bargain,  by  jingoes !"  says  he;  "but  how 
will  we  find  out?" 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  22$ 

**  Why/'  says  I,  **  we'll  just  write  and  ax  the  prin- 
ter." 

'*  Agreed  again  ! ''  says  he  ;  '^  and  by  thunder  !  if 
it  does  turn  out  that  Shields  is  a  Democrat,  I  never 
will  "  — 

''  Jefferson  !  Jefferson  ! " 

''  What  do  you  want,  Peggy  ?  ** 

*'  Do  get  through  your  everlasting  clatter  some 
time,  and  bring  me  a  gourd  of  water;  the  child's 
been  crying  for  a  drink  this  livelong  hour/' 

**Let  it  die,  then;  it  may  as  well  die  for  water  as 
to  be  taxed  to  death  to  fatten  officers  of  State." 

Jeff  run  off  to  get  the  water,  though,  just  like  he 
hadn't  been  saying  anything  spiteful  for  he's  a 
raal  good-hearted  fellow,  after  all,  once  you  get  at 
the  foundation  of  him. 

I  walked  into  the  house,  and,**  Why,  Peggy,"  says 
I,  **  I  declare  we  like  to  forgot  you  altogether." 

**0h,  yes,"  says  she,  **  when  a  body  can't  help 
themselves,  everybody  soon  forgets  'em;  but,  thank 
God !  by  day  after  to-morrow  I  shall  be  well 
enough  to  milk  the  cows,  and  pen  the  calves,  and 
wring  the  contrary  ones'  tails  for  'em,  and  no 
thanks  to  nobody." 

**  Good  evening,  Peggy,"  says  I,  and  so  I  sloped, 
for  I  seed  she  was  mad  at  me  for  making  Jeff  neg- 
lect her  so  long. 

And  now,  Mr.  Printer,  will  you  be  sure  to  let  us 
know  in  your  next  paper  whether  this  Shields  is  a 
Whig  or  a  Democrat  ?  I  don't  care  about  it  for  my 
self,  for  I  know  well  enough  how  it  is  already ;  but 
I  want  to  convince  Jeff.  It  may  do  some  good  to  let 
him,  and  others  like  him,  know  who  and  what  these 
officers  of  State  are.  It  may  help  to  send  the  pres- 
ent hypocritical  set  to  where  they  belong,  and  to  fill 
the  places  they  now  disgrace,  with  men  who  will  do 
more  work  for  less  pay,  and  take  a  fewer  airs  while 
they  are  doing  it.    It  ain't  sensible  to  think  that  the 


226  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

same  men  who  get  us  into  trouble  will  change  theiv 
course  ;  and  yet  it's  pretty  plain  if  some  change  for 
the  better  is  not  made,  it's  not  long  that  either 
Peggy  or  I  or  any  of  us  will  have  a  cow  left  to 
milk,  or  a  calf's  tail  to  wring. 

Yours  truly, 

Rebecca . 

Within  a  week  another  epistle  from  Aunt  Re- 
becca appeared,  in  which,  among  other  things,  she 
offered  the  gallant  Shields  her  hand.  This  one 
was  written  by  Miss  Todd  and  Miss  Jayne.  I 
insert  it  without  further  comment  : 

Lost  Townships,  September  8,  1842. 
Dear  Mr.  Printer  : 

I  was  a-standin'  at  the  spring  yesterday  a-wash- 
in'  out  butter  when  I  seed  Jim  Snooks  a-ridin'  up 
towards  the  house  for  very  life,  when,  jist  as  I  was 
a-wonderin'  what  on  airth  was  the  matter  with  him, 
he  stops  suddenly,  and  ses  he,  '*  Aunt  'Becca,  here's 
somethin'  for  you  ;"  and  with  that  he  hands  out 
your  letter.  Well,  you  see,  I  steps  out  towards 
him,  not  thinkin'  that  I  had  both  hands  full  of  but- 
ter; and  seein'  I  couldn't  take  the  letter,  you  know, 
without  greasin'  it,  I  ses,  **  Jim,  jist  you  open  it,  and 
read  it  for  me."  Well,  Jim  opens  it  and  reads  it ; 
and  would  you  believe  it,  Mr.  Editor,  I  was  so  com- 
pletely dumfounded  and  turned  into  stone  that 
there  I  stood  in  the  sun  a-workin'  the  butter,  and 
it  a-running  on  the  ground,  while  he  read  the  letter, 
that  I  never  thunk  what  I  was  about  till  the  hull 
on't  run  melted  on  the  ground  and  was  lost.  Now, 
sir,  it's  not  for  the  butter,  nor  the  price  of  the  but- 
ter, but,  the  Lord  have  massy  on  us,  I  wouldn't 
have  sich  another  fright  for  a  whole  firkin  of  it. 
Why,  when  I  found  out  that  it  was  the  man  what 
Jeff  seed  down  to  the  fair  that  had  demanded  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  22/ 

author  of  my  letters,  threatnin*  to  take  personal 
satisfaction  of  the  writer,  I  was  so  skart  that  I  tho't 
I  should  quill-wheel  right  where  I  was. 

You    say   that   Mr.   S is  offended  at    being 

compared  to  cats'  fur,  and  is  as  mad  as  a  March  hare 
(that  ain't  fur),  because  I  told  about  the  squeezin'. 

Now    I    want   you    to   tell    Mr.    S that,   rather 

than  fight,  I'll  make  any  apology  ;  and,  if  he  wants 
personal  satisfaction,  let  him  only  come  here,  and 
he  may  squeeze  my  hand  as  hard  as  I  squeezed  the 
butter,  and,  if  that  ain't  personal  satisfaction,  I  can 
only  say  that  he  is  the  fust  man  that  was  not  sat- 
isfied with  squeezin'  my  hand.  If  this  should  not 
answer,  there  is  one  thing  more  that  I  would 
rather  do  than  get  a  lickin'.  I  have  long  expected 
to  die  a  widow  ;  but,  as  Mr.  S is  rather  good- 
looking  than  otherwise,  I  must  say  I  don't  care  if 
we  compromise  the  matter  by — really,  Mr.  Printer, 
I  can't  help  blushin' — but  I — it  must  come  out — I — 
but  widowed  modesty — well,  if  I  must,  I  must — 
wouldn't  he — may  be  sorter  let  the  old  grudge  drap 
if  I  was  to  consent  to  be — be— h-i-s  w-i-f-e  ?  I  know 
he's  a  fightin'  man,  and  would  rather  fight  than 
eat ;  but  isn't  marryin'  better  than  fightin',  though 
it  does  sometimes  run  in  to  it?  And  I  don't  think, 
upon  the  whole,  that  I'd  be  sich  a  bad  match 
neither:  I'm  not  over  sixty,  and  am  jist  four  feet 
three  in  my  bare  feet,  and  not  much  more  around 
the  girth  ;  and  for  color,  I  wouldn't  turn  my  back 
to  nary  a  gal  in  the  Lost  Townships.  But,  after 
all,  maybe  I'm  countin'  my  chickins  before  they  are 
hatched,  and  dreamin'  of  matrimonial  bliss  when  the 
only  alternative  reserved  for  me  may  be  a  lickin'. 
Jeff  tells  me  the  way  these  fire-eaters  do  is  to  give 
the  challenged  party  choice  of  weapons,  etc.,  which 
bein'  the  case,  I'll  tell  you  in  confidence  that  I 
never  fights  with  anything  but  broomsticks  or  hot 
water  or  a  shovelful  of  coals  or  some  such  thing; 


226'  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

the  former  of  which,  being  somewhat  like  a  shilla- 
lah,  may  not  be  very  objectional  to  him.  I  will  give 
him  choice,  however,  in  one  thing,  and  that  is, 
whether,  when  we  fight,  I  shall  wear  breeches  or 
he  petticoats,  for,  I  presume  that  change  is  suffi- 
cient to  place  us  on  an  equality. 

Yours,  etc., 

Rebecca . 

P.  S. — Jist  say  to- your  friend,  if  he  concludes  to 
marry  rather  than  fight,  I  shall  only  inforce  one 
condition,  that  is,  if  he  should  ever  happen  to 
gallant  any  young  gals  home  of  nights  from  our 
house,  he  must  not  squeeze  their  hands. 

Not  content  with  their  epistolary  efforts,  the 
ladies  invoked  the  muse.  *'  Rebecca"  doftly  trans- 
formed herself  into  **  Cathleen,**  and  in  jingling 
rhyme  sang  the  praises  of  Shields,  and  congratulated 
him  over  the  prospect  of  an  early  marriage  to  the 
widow.  Following  are  the  verses,  rhyme,  metre;, 
and  all : 

Ye  Jew's-harps  awake !     The  Auditor^s  won. 
Rebecca  the  widow  has  gained  Erin's  son ; 
The  pride  of  the  north  from  Emerald  Isle 
Has  been  wooed  and  won  by  a  woman's  smile. 
The  combat^s  relinquished,  old  loves  all  forgot : 
To  the  widow  he's  bound.     Oh,  bright  be  his  lot ! 
In  the  smiles  of  the  conquest  so  lately  achieved. 
Joyful  be  his  bride,  "widowed  modesty  "  relieved, 
The  footsteps  of  time  tread  lightly  on  flowers, 
May  the  cares  of  this  world  ne'er  darken  his  hours  I 
But  the  pleasures  of  life  are  fickle  and  coy 
As  the  smiles  of  a  maiden  sent  off  to  destroy. 
Happy  groom  !  in  sadness  far  distant  from  thee 
The  fair  girls  dream  only  of  past  times  of  glee 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  229 

Enjoyed  in  thy  presence  ;  whilst  the  soft  blarnied  store 
Will  be  fondly  remembered  as  relics  of  yore, 
And  hands  that  in  rapture  you  oft  would  have  pressed, 
In  prayer  will  be  clasped  that  your  lot  may  be  blest. 

Cathleen. 

The  satire  running  through  these  various  com- 
positions, and  the  publicity  their  appearance  in  the 
Journal  gave  them,  had  a  most  wonderful  effect  on 
the  vain  and  irascible  Auditor  of  State.  He  could  no 
longer  endure  the  merriment  and  ridicule  that  met 
him  from  every  side.  A  man  of  cooler  head  might 
have  managed  it  differently,  but  in  the  case  of  a 
high-tempered  man  like  Shields  he  felt  that  his 
integrity  had  been  assailed  and  that  nothing  but 
an  ** affair  of  honor"  would  satisfy  him.  Through 
General  John  D.  Whiteside  he  demanded  of  edi. 
tor  Francis  the  name  of  the  author.  The  latter 
hunted  up  Lincoln,  who  directed  him  to  give  his 
name  and  say  nothing  about  the  ladies.  The  fur^ 
ther  proceedings  in  this  grotesque  drama  were  so 
graphically  detailed  by  the  friends  of  both  parties 
in  the  columns  of  the  Journal  at  that  time,  that  I 
copy  their  letters  as  a  better  and  more  faithful 
narrative  than  can  be  obtained  from  any  other 
source.  The  letter  of  Shields'  second.  General 
Whiteside,  appearing  first  in  the  Journal^  finds  the 
same  place  in  this  chapter : 

*' Springfield,  Oct.  3,  1842. 
**  To  the  Editor  of  the  Sangamon  Journal : 

"  Sir  :  To  prevent  misrepresentation  of  the 
recent  affair  between  Messrs.  Shields  and  Lincoln, 
I    think  it  proper  to  give   a  brief  narrative  of  the 


230  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

facts  of  the  case,  as  they  came  within  my  knowL 
edge ;  for  the  truth  of  which  I  hold  myself  respon- 
sible, and  request  you  to  give  the  same  pub- 
lication. An  offensive  article  in  relation  to  Mr. 
Shields  appeared  in  the  Sangamon  Journal  oi  the 
2d  of  September  last ;  and,  on  demanding  the 
author,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  given  up  by  the  editor. 
Mr.  Shields,  previous  to  this  demand,  made 
arrangements  to  go  to  Quincy  on  public  business ; 
and  before  his  return  Mr.  Lincoln  had  left  for 
Tremont  to  attend  the  court,  with  the  intention, 
as  we  learned,  of  remaining  on  the  circuit  several 
weeks.  Mr.  Shields,  on  his  return,  requested  me  to 
accompany  him  to  Tremont ;  and,  on  arriving 
there,  we  found  that  Dr.  Merryman  and  Mr.  Butler 
had  passed  us  in  the  night,  and  got  there  before  us. 
We  arrived  in  Tremont  on  the  17th  ult.,  and  Mr. 
Shields  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Lincoln  immedi- 
ately, informing  him  that  he  was  given  up  as  the 
author  of  some  articles  that  appeared  in  the  Sanga- 
mon  Journal  .{pnQ  more  over  the  signature  having 
made  its  appearance  at  this  time),  and  requesting 
him  to  retract  the  offensive  allusions  contained  in 
said  articles  in  relation  to  his  private  character. 
Mr.  Shields  handed  this  note  to  me  to  deliver  to 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  directed  me,  at  the  same  time, 
not  to  enter  into  any  verbal  communication,  or  be 
the  bearer  of  any  verbal  explanation,  as  such  were 
always  liable  to  misapprehension.  This  note  was 
delivered  by  me  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  stating,  at  the 
same  time,  that  I  would  call  at  his  convenience  for 
an  answer.  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  the  evening  of  the 
same  day,  handed  me  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr. 
Shields.  In  this  he  gave  or  offered  no  explanation, 
but  stated  therein  that  he  could  not  submit  to 
answer  further,  on  the  ground  that  Mr.  Shields's 
note  contained  an  assumption  of  facts  and  also  a 
menace.     Mr.    Shields  then  addressed  him  another 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN'.  23 1 

note,  in  which  he  disavowed  all  intention  to  men- 
ace,  and  requested  to  know  whether  he  (Mr.  Lin- 
coin)  was  the  author  of  either  of  the  articles  which 
appeared  in  the  Journal,  headed  '  Lost  Townships/ 
and  signed  '  Rebecca ' ;  and,  if  so,  he  repeated  his 
request  of  a  retraction  of  the  offensive  matter  in 
relation  to  his  private  character ;  if  not,  his  denial 
would  be  held  sufficient.  This  letter  was  returned 
to  Mr.  Shields  unanswered,  with  a  verbal  statement 
*  that  there  could  be  no  further  negotiation  be- 
tween them  until  the  first  note  was  withdrawn.* 
Mr.  Shields  thereupon  sent  a  note  designating  me 
as  a  friend,  to  which  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  by  desig- 
nating Dr.  Merryman.  These  three  last  notes 
passed  on  Monday  morning,  the  19th.  Dr.  Merry- 
man  handed  me  Mr.  Lincoln's  last  note  when  by 
ourselves.  I  remarked  to  Dr.  Merryman  that  the 
matter  was  now  submitted  to  us,  and  that  I  would, 
propose  that  he  and  myself  should  pledge  our 
words  of  honor  to  each  other  to  try  to  agree  upon: 
terms  of  amicable  arrangement,  and  compel  our 
principals  to  accept  of  them.  To  this  he  readily 
assented,  and  we  shook  hands  upon  the  pledge.  It 
was  then  mutually  agreed  that  we  should  adjourn 
to  Springfield,  and  there  procrastinate  the  matter,, 
for  the  purpose  of  effecting  the  secret  arrangement 
between  him  and  myself.  All  this  I  kept  concealed 
from  Mr.  Shields.  Our  horse  had  got  a  little  lame 
in  going  to  Tremont,  and  Dr.  Merryman  invited  me 
to  take  a  seat  in  his  buggy.  I  accepted  the  invita- 
tion the  more  readily,  as  I  thought  that  leaving 
Mr.  Shields  in  Tremont  until  his  horse  would  be  in 
better  condition  to  travel  would  facilitate  the  pri- 
vate  agreement  between  Dr.  Merryman  and  myself. 
I  travelled  to  Springfield  part  of  the  way  with  him, 
and  part  with  Mr.  Lincoln ;  but  nothing  passed 
between  us  on  the  journey  in  relation  to  the  matter 
in   hand.     We   arrived    in    Springfield  on  Monday 


232  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

night.  About  noon  on  Tuesday,  to  my  astonish- 
ment, a  proposition  was  made  to  meet  in  Missouri, 
within  three  miles  of  Alton,  on  the  next  Thursday ! 
The  weapons,  cavalry  broadswords  of  the  largest 
size  ;  the  parties  to  stand  on  each  side  of  a  barrier, 
and  to  be  confined  to  a  limited  space.  As  I  had 
not  been  consulted  at  all  on  the  subject,  and  con- 
sidering the  private  understanding  between  Dr. 
Merryman  and  myself,  and  it  being  known  that  Mr. 
Shields  was  left  at  Tremont,  such  a  proposition 
took  me  by  surprise.  However,  being  determined 
not  to  violate  the  laws  of  the  State,  I  declined 
agreeing  upon  the  terms  until  we  should  meet  in 
Missouri.  Immediately  after,  I  called  upon  Dr. 
Merryman  and  withdrew  the  pledge  of  honor  be- 
tween him  and  myself  in  relation  to  a  secret  arrange- 
ment. I  started  after  this  to  meet  Mr.  Shields,  and 
met  him  about  twenty  miles  from  Springfield.  It 
was  late  on  Tuesday  night  when  we  both  reached  the 
city  and  learned  that  Dr.  Merryman  had  left  for 
Missouri,  Mr.  Lincoln  having  left  before  the  propo- 
sition was  made,  as  Dr.  Merryman  had  himself 
informed  me.  The  time  and  place  made  it  neces- 
sary to  start  at  once.  We  left  Springfield  at  eleven 
o'clock  on  Tuesday  night,  travelled  all  night,  and 
arrived  in  Hillsborough  on  Wednesday  morning, 
where  we  took  in  General  Ewing.  From  there  we 
went  to  Alton,  where  we  arrived  on  Thursday;  and, 
as  the  proposition  required  three  friends  on  each 
side,  I  was  joined  by  General  Ewing  and  Dr.  Hope, 
as  the  friends  of  Mr.  Shields.  We  then  crossed  to 
Missouri,  where  a  proposition  was  made  by  General 
Hardin  and  Dr.  English  (who  had  arrived  there  in 
the  mean  time  as  mutual  friends)  to  refer  the 
matter  to,  I  think,  four  friends  for  a  settlement. 
This  I  believed  Mr.  Shields  would  refuse,  and  de- 
dined  seeing  him  ;  but  Dr.  Hope,  who  conferred 
with  him  upon  the  subject,  returned  and  stated  that 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN",  233 

Mr.  Shields  declined  settling  the  matter  through 
any  other  than  the  friends  he  had  selected  to  stand 
by  him  on  that  occasion.  The  friends  of  both  the 
parties  finally  agreed  to  withdraw  the  papers  (tem- 
porarily) to  give  the  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln  an 
opportunity  to  explain.  Whereupon  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  to  wit,  Messrs.  Merryman,  Bledsoe, 
and  Butler,  made  a  full  and  satisfactory  explanation 
in  relation  to  the  article  which  appeared  in  the 
Sangamon  Journal  of  the  2d,  the  only  one  written 
by  him.  This  was  all  done  without  the  knowledge 
or  consent  of  Mr.  Shields,  and  he  refused  to  ac- 
cede to  it,  until  Dr.  Hope,  General  Ewing,  and 
myself  declared  the  apology  sufficient,  and  that  we 
could  not  sustain  him  in  going  further.  I  think  it 
necessary  to  state  further,  that  no  explanation  or 
apology  had  been  previously  offered  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  Mr.  Shields,  and  that  none  was  ever 
communicated  by  me  to  him,  nor  was  any  even 
offered  to  me,  unless  a  paper  read  to  me  by  Dr. 
Merryman  after  he  had  handed  me  the  broadsword 
proposition  on  Tuesday.  I  heard  so  little  of  the 
reading  of  the  paper,  that  I  do  not  know  fully  what 
it  purported  to  be ;  and  I  was  the  less  inclined  to 
inquire,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  was  then  gone  to  Missouri, 
and  Mr.  Shields  not  yet  arrived  from  Tremont.  In 
fact,  I  could  not  entertain  any  offer  of  the  kind, 
unless  upon  my  own  responsibility ;  and  that  I  was 
not  disposed  to  do  after  what  had  already  trans- 
pired. 

**  I  make  this  statement,  as  I  am  about  to  be 
absent  for  some  time,  and  I  think  it  due  to  all  con- 
cerned  to  give  a  true  version  of  the  matter  before  I 
leave. 

"Your  obedient  servant, 

*\]OHN  D.  Whiteside.'' 


234  ^^^  L^^^  ^^  LINCOLN, 

Springfield,  October  8,  1842. 
Editors  of  the  Journal: 

Gents  : — By  your  paper  of  Friday,  I  discover 
that  General  Whiteside  has  published  his  version  of 
the  late  affair  between  Messrs.  Shields  and  Lincoln, 
I  now  bespeak  a  hearing  of  my  version  of  the  same 
affair,  which  shall  be  true  and  full  as  to  all  mate- 
rial facts. 

On  Friday  evening,  the  i6th  of  September,  I 
learned  that  Mr.  Shields  and  General  Whiteside  had 
started  in  pursuit  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  at  Tre- 
mont,  attending  court.  I  knew  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  wholly  unpractised  both  as  to  the  diplomacy 
and  weapons  commonly  employed  in  similar  affairs  ; 
and  I  felt  it  my  duty,  as  a  friend,  to  be  with  him, 
and,  so  far  as  in  my  power,  to  prevent  any  advantage 
being  taken  of  him  as  to  either  his  honor  or  his  life. 
Accordingly,  Mr.  Butler  and  myself  started,  passed 
Shields  and  Whiteside  in  the  night,  and  arrived  at 
Tremont  ahead  of  them  on  Saturday  morning.  I 
told  Mr.  Lincoln  what  was  brewing,  and  asked  him 
what  course  he  proposed  to  himself.  He  stated 
that  he  was  wholly  opposed  to  duelling,  and  would 
do  anything  to  avoid  it  that  might  not  degrade  him 
in  the  estimation  of  himself  and  friends ;  but,  if 
such  degradation  or  a  fight  were  the  only  alterna- 
tives, he  would  fight. 

In  the  afternoon  Shields  and  Whiteside  arrived, 
and  very  soon  the  former  sent  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  by 
the  latter,  the  following  note  or  letter : — 

Tremont,  September  17,  1842. 
A.  Lincoln,  Esq. : — I  regret  that  my  absence  on 
public  business  compelled  me  to  postpone  a  matter  of 
private  consideration  a  little  longer  than  I  could  have 
desired.  It  will  only  be  necessary,  however,  to  account 
for  it  by  informing  you  that  I  have  been  to  Quincy  on 
business  that  would  not  admit  of  delay.  I  will  now 
state  briefly  the  reasons  of  my  troubling  you  with  this 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


235 


I 


communication,  the  disagreeable  nature  of  which  I  regret, 
as  I  had  hoped  to  avoid  any  difficulty  with  any  one  in 
Springfield  while  residing  there,  by  endeavoring  to  conduct 
myself  in  such  a  way  amongst  both  my  political  friends 
and  opponents,  as  to  escape  the  necessity  of  any.  Whilst 
thus  abstaining  from  giving  provocation,  I  have  become 
the  object  of  slander,  vituperation,  and  personal  abuse 
which,  were  1  capable  of  submitting  to,  I  would  prove 
myself  worthy  of  the  whole  of  it. 

In  two  or  three  of  the  last  numbers  of  the  Sangamon 
Journaly  articles  of  the  most  personal  nature,  and  calcu- 
lated to  degrade  me,  have  made  their  appearance.  On 
inquiring,  I  was  informed  by  the  editor  of  that  paper, 
through  the  medium  of  my  friend.  General  Whiteside,  that 
you  are  the  author  of  those  articles.  This  information 
satisfies  me  that  I  have  become,  by  some  means  or  other, 
the  object  of  secret  hostility.  I  will  not  take  the  trouble 
of  inquiring  into  the  reason  of  all  this,  but  I  will  take 
the  liberty  of  requiring  a  full,  positive,  and  absolute  re- 
traction of  all  offensive  allusions  used  by  you  in  these 
communications,  in  rislation  to  my  private  character  and 
standing  as  a  man,  as  an  apology  for  the  insults  con- 
veyed in  them. 

This  may  prevent  consequences  which  no  one  will 
regret  more  than  myself. 

Your  ob't  serv't, 

Jas.  Shields. 

About  sunset,  General  Whiteside  called  again, 
and  secured  from  Mr.  Lincoln  the  following  an- 
swer to  Mr.  Shields's  note  : — 

Tremont,  September  17,  1842. 
Jas.  Shields,  Esq. : — Your  note  of  to-day  was  handed 
me  by  General  Whiteside.  In  that  note  you  say  you 
have  been  informed,  through  the  medium  of  the  editor  of 
the  Journal,  that  I  am  the  author  of  certain  articles  in 
that  paper  which  you  deem  personally  abusive  of  you ; 
and,  without  stopping  to  inquire  whether  I  really  am  the 
author,  or  to  point   out   what   is   offensive   in  them,  you 


236  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

demand  an  unqualified  retraction  of  all  that  is  offensive, 
and  then  proceed  to  hint  at  consequences. 

Now,  sir,  there  is  in  this  so  much  assumption  of  facts, 
and  so  much  of  menace  as  to  consequences,  that  I  cannot 
submit  to  answer  that  note  any  further  than  I  have,  and 
to  add,  that  the  consequences  to  which  I  suppose  you 
allude  would  be  matter  of  as  great  regret  to  me  as  it  pos- 
sibly could  to  you. 

Respectfully, 

A.  Lincoln. 

In  about  an  hour,  General  Whiteside  called  again 
with  another  note  from  Mr.  Shields  ;  but  after  con- 
ferring v^ith  Mr.  Butler  for  a  long  time,  say  two  or 
three  hours,  returned  without  presenting  the  note 
to  Mr.  Lincoln.  This  v/as  in  consequence  of  an 
assurance  from  Mr.  Butler  that  Mr.  Lincoln  could 
not  receive  any  communication  from  Mr.  Shields, 
unless  it  were  a  withdrawal  of  his  first  note,  or  a 
challenge.  Mr.  Butler  further  stated  to  General 
Whiteside,  that,  on  the  withdrawal  of  the  first  note, 
and  a  proper  and  gentlemanly  request  for  an  ex- 
planation, he  had  no  doubt  one  would  be  given. 
General  Whiteside  admitted  that  that  was  the 
course  Mr.  Shields  ought  to  pursue,  but  deplored 
that  his  furious  and  intractable  temper  prevented 
his  having  any  influence  with  him  to  that  end. 
General  Whiteside  then  requested  us  to  wait  with 
him  until  Monday  morning,  that  he  might  endeavor 
to  bring  Mr.  Shields  to  reason. 

On  Monday  morning  he  called  and  presented  Mr. 
Lincoln  the  same  note  as  Mr.  Butler  says  he  had 
brought  on  Saturday  evening.  It  was  as  fol- 
lows : — 

Tremont,  September  17,  1842. 
A.  Lincoln,  Esq. : — In  your  reply  to  my  note  of  this 
date,  you  intimate  that  I  assume  facts  and  menace  con- 
sequences,   and    that   you    cannot  submit  to   answer    it 
further.     As  now,  sir,  you  desire  it,  I  will  be  a  little  more 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLJST,  237 

particular.  The  editor  of  the  Sangamon  Journal  gave  me 
to  understand  that  you  are  the  author  of  an  article  which 
appeared,  I  think,  in  that  paper  of  the  2d  September  inst., 
headed  **  The  Lost  Townships  ''  and  signed  Rebecca  or 
'Becca,  I  would  therefore  take  the  liberty  of  asking 
whether  you  are  the  author  of  said  article,  or  any  other 
of  the  same  signature  which  has  appeared  in  any  of  the 
late  numbers  of  that  paper.  If  so,  I  repeat  my  request  of 
an  absolute  retraction  of  all  offensive  allusions  contained 
therein  in  relation  to  my  private  character  and  standing. 

If  you  are  not  the  author  of  any  of  the  articles,  your 
denial  will  be  sufficient.     I  will  say  further,  it  is  not  my 
intention  to  menace,  but  to  do  myself  justice. 
Your  ob't  serv't, 

Jas.  Shields. 

This  Mr.  Lincoln  perused,  and  returned  to  General 
Whiteside,  telling  him  verbally,  that  he  did  not 
think  it  consistent  with  his  honor  to  negotiate  for 
peace  with  Mr.  Shields,  unless  Mr.  Shields  would 
withdraw  his  former  ofTensive  letter. 

In  a  very  short  time  General  Whiteside  called  with 
a  note  from  Mr.  Shields,  designating  General  White- 
side as  his  friend,  to  which  Mr.  Lincoln  instantly 
replied  designating  me  as  his.  On  meeting  General 
Whiteside,  he  proposed  that  we  should  pledge  our 
honor  to  each  other  that  we  would  endeavor  to 
settle  the  matter  amicably ;  to  which  I  agreed,  and 
stated  to  him  the  only  conditions  on  which  it  could 
be  settled  ;  viz.,  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Shields's  first 
note,  which  he  appeared  to  think  reasonable,  and 
regretted  that  the  note  had  been  written,  saying 
however,  that  he  had  endeavored  to  prevail  on  Mr. 
Shields  to  write  a  milder  one,  but  had  not  suc- 
ceeded. He  added,  too,  that  I  must  promise  not 
to  mention  it,  as  he  would  not  dare  to  let  Mr. 
Shields  know  that  he  was  negotiating  peace  ;  for, 
said  he,  *'  He  would  challenge  me  next,  and  as  soon 
cut  my  throat  as  not.''     Not  willing  that  he  should 


238  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

suppose  my  principal  less  dangerous  than  his  own, 
I  promised  not  to  mention  our  pacific  intentions  to 
Mr.  Lincoln  or  any  other  person ;  and  we  started 
for  Springfield  forthwith. 

We  all,  except  Mr.  Shields,  arrived  in  Springfield 
late  at  night  on  Monday.  We  discovered  that  the 
affair  had,  somehow,  got  great  publicity  in  Spring- 
field, and  that  an  arrest  was  probable.  To  prevent 
this,  it  was  agreed  by  Mr.  Lincoln  and  myself  that 
he  should  leave  early  on  Tuesday  morning.  Ac« 
cordingly,  he  prepared  the  following  instructions 
for  my  guide,  on  a  suggestion  from  Mr.  Butler  that 
he  had  reason  to  believe  that  an  attempt  would  be 
made  by  the  opposite  party  to  have  the  matter 
accommodated  : 

In  case  Whiteside  shall  signify  a  wish  to  adjust 
this  affair  without  further  difficulty,  let  him  know 
that,  if  the  present  papers  be  withdrawn,  and  a 
note  from  Mr.  Shields  asking  to  know  if  I  am  the 
author  of  the  articles  of  which  he  complains,  and 
asking  that  I  shall  make  him  gentlemanly  satisfac- 
tion if  I  am  the  author,  and  this  without  menace 
or  dictation  as  to  what  that  satisfaction  shall  be, 
a  pledge  is  made  that  the  following  answer  shall 
be  given : 

''  I  did  write  the  *  Lost  Township '  letter  which 
appeared  in  the  Journal  of  the  2d  inst.,  but  had  no 
participation  in  any  form  in  any  other  article  allud- 
ing to  you.  I  wrote  that  wholly  for  political  effect. 
I  had  no  intention  of  injuring  your  personal  or 
private  character,  or  standing  as  a  man  or  a  gentle- 
man ;  and  I  did  not  then  think,  and  do  not  now 
think,  that  that  article  could  produce,  or  has  pro- 
duced, that  effect  against  you  ;  and  had  I  antici- 
pated such  an  effect,  I  would  have  forborne  to  write 
it.  And  I  will  add,  that  your  conduct  towards  me, 
so  far  as  I  knew,  had  always  been  gentlemanly,  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  l^g 

that  I  had  no  personal  pique  against  you,  and  no 
cause  for  any/* 

If  this  should  be  done,  I  leave  it  with  you  to 
manage  what  shall  and  what  shall  not  be  published. 

If  nothing  like  this  is  done,  the  preliminaries  of 
the  fight  are  to  be  : 

1st.  Weapons: — Cavalry  broadswords  of  the 
largest  size,  precisely  equal  in  all  respects,  and  such 
as  now  used  by  the  cavalry  company  at  Jackson- 
ville. 

2d.  Position : — A  plank  ten  feet  long,  and  from 
nine  to  twelve  inches  broad,  to  be  firmly  fixed  on 
edge  on  the  ground  as  the  lines  between  us,  which 
neither  is  to  pass  his  foot  over  upon  forfeit  of  his 
life.  Next,  a.  line  drawn  on  the  ground  on  either 
side  of  said  plank  and  parallel  with  it,  each  at  the 
distance  of  the  whole  length  of  the  sword  and  three 
feet  additional  from  the  plank;  and  the  passing  of 
his  own  such  line  by  either  party  during  the  fight 
shall  be  deemed  a  surrender  of  the  contest. 

3d.  Time  : — On  Thursday  evening  at  five  o'clock, 
if  you  can  get  it  so ;  but  in  no  case  to  be  at  a 
greater  distance  of  time  than  Friday  evening  at  5 
o'clock. 

4th.  Place  : — Within  three  miles  of  Alton,  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  the  particular  spot  to 
be  agreed  on  by  you. 

Any  preliminary  details  coming  within  the  above 
rules,  you  are  at  liberty  to  make  at  your  discretion ; 
but  you  are  in  no  case  to  swerve  from  these  rules^ 
or  to  pass  beyond  their  limits. 

In  the  course  of  the  forenoon  I  met  General 
Whiteside,  and  he  again  intimated  a  wish  to  adjust 
the  matter  amicably.  I  then  read  to  him  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's instructions  to  an  adjustment,  and  the  terms 
of  the  hostile  meeting,  Jf  there  must  be  one,  both  at 
the  same  time. 

He  replied   that  it  was  useless  to  talk  of  an  ad* 


240  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

justment,  if  it  could  only  be  effected  by  the  with- 
drawal of  Mr.  Shields's  paper,  for  such  withdrawal 
Mr.  Shields  would  never  consent  to  ;  adding,  that 
he  would  as  soon  think  of  asking  Mr.  Shields  to 
''butt  his  brains  out  against  a  brick  wall  as  to  with- 
draw that  paper/'  He  proceeded  :  *'  I  see  but  one 
course — that  is  a  desperate  remedy :  'tis  to  tell 
them,  if  they  will  not  make  the  matter  up,  they 
must  fight  us."  I  replied,  that,  if  he  chose  to  fight 
Mr.  Shields  to  compel  him  to  do  right,  he  might  do 
so ;  but  as  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  was  on  the  defensive, 
and,  I  believe,  in  the  right,  and  I  should  do  nothing 
to  compel  him  to  do  wrong.  Such  withdrawal 
having  been  made  indispensable  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  I 
cut  the  matter  short  as  to  an  adjustment,  and  I 
proposed  to  General  Whiteside  to  accept  the  terms 
of  the  fight,  which  he  refused  to  do  until  Mr.  Shields' 
arrival  in  town,  but  agreed,  verbally,  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's friends  should  procure  the  broadswords,  and 
take  them  to  the  ground.  In  the  afternoon  he 
came  to  me,  saying  that  some  persons  were  swear- 
ing out  affidavits  to  have  us  arrested,  and  that  he 
intended  to  meet  Mr.  Shields  immediately,  and 
proceed  to  the  place  designated,  lamenting,  how* 
ever,  that  I  would  not  delay  the  time,  that  he  might 
procure  the  interference  of  Governor  Ford  and  Gen- 
eral Ewing  to  mollify  Mr.  Shields.  I  told  him  that 
an  accommodation,  except  upon  the  terms  I  men- 
tioned, was  out  of  question ;  that  to  delay  the 
meeting  was  to  facilitate  our  arrest  ;  and,  as  I  was 
determined  not  to  be  arrested,  I  should  leave  the 
town  in  fifteen  minutes.  I  then  pressed  his  accept- 
ance of  the  preliminaries,  which  he  disclaimed  upon 
the  ground  that  it  would  interfere  with  his  oath  of 
office  as  Fund  Commissioner.  I  then,  with  two 
other  friends,  went  to  Jacksonville,  where  we  joined 
Mr.  Lincoln  about  1 1  o'clock  on  Tuesday  night, 
Wednesday  morning  we  procured  the  broadswords, 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  24 1 

and  proceeded  to  Alton,  where  we  arrived  about  1 1 
o'clock  A.  M.,  on  Thursday.  The  other  party  were 
in  town  before  us.  We  crossed  the  river,  and  they 
soon  followed.  Shortly  after,  General  Hardin  and 
Dr.  English  presented  to  General  Whiteside  and 
myself  the  following  note : 

Alton,  September  22,  1842. 

Messrs.  Whiteside  and  Merryman  :  As  the  mutual 
personal  friends  of  Messrs.  Shields  and  Lincoln,  but  with- 
out authority  from  either,  we  earnestly  desire  to  see  a 
reconciliation  of  the  misunderstanding  which  exists  be- 
tween them.  Such  difficulties  should  always  be  arranged 
amicably,  if  it  is  possible  to  do  so  with  honor  to  both 
parties. 

Believing,  ourselves,  that  such  an  arrangement  can 
possibly  be  effected,  we  respectfully  but  earnestly  sub- 
mit the  following  proposition  for  your  consideration  : 

Let  the  whole  difficulty  be  submitted  to  four  or  more 
gentlemen,  to  be  selected  by  ourselves,  who  shall  con- 
sider the  affair,  and  report  thereupon  for  your  considera- 
tion. John  J.  Hardin, 

R.  W.  English. 

To  this  proposition  General  Whiteside  agreed  :  I 
declined  doing  so  without  consulting  Mr.  Lincoln. 
Mr.  Lincoln  remarked  that,  as  they  had  accepted 
the  proposition,  he  would  do  so,  but  directed 
that  his  friends  should  make  no  terms  except  those 
first  proposed.  Whether  the  adjustment  was  finally 
made  upon  these  very  terms  and  no  other,  let  the 
following  documents  attest ; 

Missouri,  September  22,  18420 
Gentlemen  : — All  papers  in  relation  to  the  matter  in 
controversy  between  Mr.  Shields  and  Mr.  Lincoln  having 
been  withdrawn  by  the  friends  of  the  parties  concerned, 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Shields  ask  the  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  explain  all  offensive  matter  in  the  articles  which  ap 


242  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

peared  in  the  Sangamon  Journal^  of  the  2d,  9th,  and  i6th 
of  September,  under  the  signature  of  **  Rebecca,"  and 
headed  "  Lost  Townships/* 

It  is  due  General  Hardin  and  Mr.  English  to  state 
that  their  interference  was  of  the  most  courteous  and 
gentlemanly  character. 

John  D.  Whiteside. 

Wm.  Lee  D.  Ewing. 

T.  M.  Hope. 

Missouri,  September  22,  1842. 
Gentlemen  : — All  papers  in  relation  to  the  matter  in 
controversy  between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Shields  having 
been  withdrawn  by  the  friends  of  the  parties  concerned, 
we,  the  undersigned,  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  accord- 
ance with  your  request  that  explanation  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
publication  in  relation  to  Mr.  Shields  in  the  Sangamon 
Journal oi  the  2d,  9th,  and  i6th  of  September  be  made, 
take  pleasure  in  saying,  that,  although  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
the  writer  of  the  article  signed  "  Rebecca  "  in  the  Jour- 
nal oi  the  2d,  and  that  only,  yet  he  had  no  intention  of 
injuring  the  personal  or  private  character  or  standing  of 
Mr.  Shields  as  a  gentleman  or  a  man,  and  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln did  not  think,  nor  does  he  now  think,  that  said  arti- 
cle could  produce  such  an  effect ;  and,  had  Mr.  Lincoln  an- 
ticipated such  an  effect,  he  would  have  forborne  to  write 
it.  We  will  state  further,  that  said  article  was  written 
solely  for  political  effect,  and  not  to  gratify  any  personal 
pique  against  Mr.  Shields,  for  he  had  none  and  knew 
of  no  cause  for  any.  It  is  due  to  General  Hardin  and 
Mr.  English  to  say  that  their  interference  was  of  the  most 
courteous  and  gentlemanly  character. 

E.  H.  Merryman. 
A.  T.  Bledsoe. 

Wm.  Butler. 

Let  it  be  observed  now,  that  Mr.  Shields's  friends, 
after  agreeing  to  the  arbitrament  of  four  disin- 
terested  gentlemen,  declined  the  contract,  saying 
that  Mr.  Shields  w^ished  his  ov^n  friends  to  act  for 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLAT. 


243 


him.  They  then  proposed  that  we  should  explain 
without  any  withdrawal  of  papers.  This  was 
promptly  and  firmly  refused,  and  General  Whiteside 
himself  pronounced  the  papers  withdrawn.  They 
then  produced  a  note  requesting  us  to  ^Misavow 
all  offensive  intentions  in  the  publications,  etc.,  etc. 
This  we  declined  answering,  and  only  responded  to 
the  above  request  for  an  explanation. 

These  are  the  material  facts  in  relation  to  the 
matter,  and  I  think  present  the  case  in  a  very  dif- 
ferent light  from  the  garbled  and  curtailed  statement 
of  General  Whiteside.  Why  he  made  that  state- 
ment I  know  not,  unless  he  wished  to  detract  from 
the  honor  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  This  was  ungenerous, 
more  particularly  as  he  on  the  ground  requested  us 
not  to  make  in  our  explanation  any  quotations 
from  the  ''  Rebecca  papers  ;  "  also,  not  to  make 
public  the  terms  of  reconciliation,  and  to  unite  with 
them  in  defending  the  honorable  character  of  the 
adjustment. 

General  Whiteside,  in  his  publication,  says: 
**  The  friends  of  both  parties  agreed  to  withdraw 
the  papers  (temporarily)  to  give  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  an  opportunity  to  explain.*'  This  I  deny. 
I  say  the  papers  were  withdrawn  to  enable  Mr. 
Shields's  friends  to  ask  an  explanation ;  and  I  ap- 
peal   to    the  documents    for  proof  of  my  position. 

By  looking  over  these  documents,  it  will  be  seen 
that  Mr.  Shields  had  not  before  asked  for  an  expla- 
nation, but  had  all  the  time  been  dictatorially  insist- 
ing on  a  retraction. 

General  Whiteside,  in  his  communication,  brings 
to  light  much  of  Mr.  Shields's  manifestations  of 
bravery  behind  the  scenes.  I  can  do  nothing  of  the 
kind  for  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  took  his  stand  when  I 
first  met  him  at  Tremont,  and  maintained  it  calmly 
to  the  last,  without  difficulty  or  difference  between 
himself  and  his  friends. 


244  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

I  cannot  close  this  article,  lengthy  as  it  is,  with* 
out  testifying  to  the  honorable  and  gentlemanly 
conduct  of  General  Ewing  and  Dr.  Hope,  nor 
indeed  can  I  say  that  I  saw  anything  objectionable 
in  the  course  of  General  Whiteside  up  to  the  time 
of  his  communication.  This  is  so  replete  with  pre- 
varication and  misrepresentation,  that  I  cannot 
accord  to  the  General  that  candor  which  I  once 
supposed  him  to  possess.  He  complains  that  I  did 
not  procrastinate  time  according  to  agreement.  He 
forgets  that  by  his  own  act  he  cut  me  off  from  that 
chance  in  inducing  me,  by  promise,  not  to  com- 
municate our  secret  contract  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  More- 
over, I  could  see  no  consistency  in  wishing  for  an 
extension  of  time  at  that  stage  of  the  affair,  when 
in  the  outset  they  were  in  so  precipitate  a  hurry 
that  they  could  not  wait  three  days  for  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  return  from  Tremont,  but  must  hasten  there, 
apparently  with  the  intention  of  bringing  the  matter 
to  a  speedy  issue.  He  complains,  too,  that,  after 
inviting  him  to  take  a  seat  in  the  buggy  I  never 
broached  the  subject  to  him  on  our  route  here.  But 
was  I,  the  defendant  in  the  case,  with  a  challenge 
hanging  over  me,  to  make  advances,  and  beg  a 
reconciliation  ? 

Absurd!  Moreover,  the  valorous  General  forgets 
that  he  beguiled  the  tedium  of  the  journey  by 
recounting  to  me  his  exploits  in  many  a  well-fought 
battle, — dangers  by  **  flood  and  field,"  in  which  I 
don't  believe  he  ever  participated, — doubtless  with 
a  view  to  produce  a  salutary  effect  on  my  nerves, 
and  impress  me  with  a  proper  notion  of  his  fire-eat- 
ing propensities. 

One  more  main  point  of  his  argument  and  I  have 
done.  The  General  seems  to  be  troubled  with  a 
convenient  shortness  of  memory  on  some  occasions. 
He  does  not  remember  that  any  explanations  were 
offered  at  any  time,  unless  it  were  a  paper  read  when 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  245 

the  **  broadsword  proposition  "  was  tendered,  when 
his  mind  was  so  confused  by  the  anticipated  clatter 
of  broadswords,  or  something  else,  that  he  did  "'  not 
know  fully  what  it  purported  to  be."  The  truth  is, 
that,  by  unwisely  refraining  from  mentioning  it  to 
his  principal,  he  placed  himself  in  a  dilemma  which 
he  is  now  endeavoring  to  shuffle  out  of.  By  his  in- 
efificiency  and  want  of  knowledge  of  those  laws 
which  govern  gentlemen  in  matters  of  this  kind,  he 
has  done  great  injustice  to  his  principal,  a  gentleman 
who,  I  believe,  is  ready  at  all  times  to  vindicate  his 
honor  manfully,  but  who  has  been  unfortunate  in 
the  selection  of  his  friends,  and  this  fault  he  is  now 
trying  to  wipe  out  by  doing  an  act  of  still  greatei 
injustice  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 

E.  H.  Merryman. 

*The  following  letter  from  Lincoln  to  his  friend  Speed  furnishes 
the  final  outcome  of  the  "duelling  business.'* 

Springfield,  October  5,  1842. 
Dear  Speed  : — 

You  have  heard  of  my  duel  with  Shields,  and  I  have  now  to 
inform  you  that  the  duelling  business  still  rages  in  this  city.  Day 
before  yesterday  Shields  challenged  Butler,  who  accepted,  proposed 
fighting  next  morning  at  sunrising  in  Bob  Allen's  meadow,  one  hun- 
dred yards  distance,  with  rifles.  To  this  Whiteside,  Shields' s 
second,  said  '  no '  because  of  the  law.  Thus  ended  duel  No.  2. 
Yesterday  Whiteside  chose  to  consider  himself  insulted  by  Dr. 
Merryman,  so  sent  him  a  kind  of  quasi-challenge  inviting  him  to 
meet  him  at  the  Planter's  House  in  St.  Louis,  on  the  next  Friday, 
to  settle  their  difficulty.  Merryman  made  me  his  friend,  and  sent 
Whiteside  a  note,  inquiring  to  know  if  he  meant  his  note  as  a  chal- 
lenge, and  if  so,  that  he  would,  according  to  the  law  in  such  case 
made  and  provided,  prescribe  the  terms  of  the  meeting.  Whiteside 
returned  for  answer  that  if  Merryman  would  meet  him  at  the 
Planter's  House  as  desired,  he  would  challenge  him.  Merryman 
replied  in  a  note,  that  he  denied  Whiteside's  right  to  dictate  time 
and  place,  but  that  he  (Merryman)  would  waive  the  question  of  time, 
and  meet  him  at  Louisiana,  Mo.  Upon  my  presenting  this  note  to 
Whiteside,  and  stating  verbally  its  contents,  he  declined  receiving  it, 
saying  he  had  business  in  St.  Louis,  and  it  was  as  near  as  Louisiana. 
Merryman  then  directed  me  to  notify  Whiteside  that  he  should  pub- 
lish the  correspondence  between  them,  with  such  comments  as  he 
saw  fit.  This  I  did.  Thus  it  stood  at  bed-time  last  night.  This 
morning  Whiteside,  by  his  friend  Shields,  is  praying  for  a  new  trial, 


246  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

Dn  Merryman's  elaborate  and  graphic  account  of 
the  meeting  at  the  duelling  ground  and  all  the  pre- 
liminary proceedings  is  as  full  and  complete  a  his- 
tory of  this  serio-comic  affair  as  any  historian  could 
give.  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  mentioned  in  the  outset  of 
this  chapter,  in  ,tHe  law  ofifice  and  elsewhere,  as  a 
rule,  refrained  from  discussing  it.  I  only  remember 
of  hearing  him  say  this,  in  reference  to  the  duel : 
*^  I  did  not  intend  to  hurt  Shields  unless  I  did  so 
clearly  in  self-defense.  If  it  had  been  necessary  I 
could  have  split  him  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to 
the  end  of  his  backbone  \'  and  when  one  takes  into 
into  consideration  the  conditions  of  weapons  and 
position  required  in  his  instructions  to  Dr.  Merry- 
man  the  boast  does  not  seem  impossible. 

The  marriage  of  Lincoln  in  no  way  diminished 
his  love  for  politics ;  in  fact,  as  we  shall  see  later 
along,  it  served  to  stimulate  his  zeal  in  that  direc- 
tion. He  embraced  every  opportunity  that  offered 
for  a  speech  in  public.  Early  in  1842  he  entered 
into  the  Washingtonian  movement  organized  to  sup- 
press the  evils  of  intemperance.  At  the  request  of 
the  society  he  delivered  an  admirable  address,  on 
Washington's  birthday,  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
which,  in  keeping  with  former  efforts,  has  been  so 
often  published  that  I  need  not  quote  it  in  full.  I 
was  then  an  ardent  temperance  reformer  myself,  and 

on  the  ground  that  he  was  mistaken  in  Merryman's  proposition  to 
meet  him  at  Louisiana,  Mo.,  thinking  it  was  the  State  of  Louisiana. 
This  Merryman  hoots  at,  and  is  preparing  his  publication ;  while 
the  town  is  in  a  ferment,  and  a  street-fight  somewhat  anticipated.  *  * 

Yours  forever, 

Lincoln." 


I 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  247 

remember  well  how  one  paragraph  of  Lincoln's 
speech  offended  the  church  members  who  were 
present.  Speaking  of  certain  Christians  who 
objected  to  the  association  of  drunkards,  even  with 
the  chance  of  reforming  them,  he  said :  "•  If  they 
(the  Christians)  believe,  as  they  profess,  that. Omnip- 
otence condescended  to  take  on  himself  the  form  of 
sinful  man,  and  as  such  die  an  ignominious  death, 
surely  they  will  not  refuse  submission  to  the  in- 
finitely lesser  condescension,  for  the  temporal  and 
perhaps  eternal  salvation  of  a  large,  erring,  and  un- 
fortunate class  of  their  fellow-creatures.  Nor  is 
the  condescension  very  great.  In  my  judgment  such 
of  us  as  have  never  fallen  victims  have  been  spared 
more  from  the  absence  of  appetite  than  from  any 
mental  or  moral  superiority  over  those  who  have. 
Indeed,  I  believe,  if  we  take  habitual  drunkards  as 
a  class,  their  heads  and  their  hearts  will  bear  an 
advantageous  comparison  with  those  of  any  other 
class.*'  The  avowal  of  these  sentiments  proved  to 
be  an  unfortunate  thing  for  Lincoln.  The  profess- 
ing Christians  regarded  the  suspicion  suggested  in 
the  first  sentence  as  a  reflection  on  the  sincerity  of 
their  belief,  and  the  last  one  had  no  better  effect  in 
reconciling  them  to  his  views.  I  was  at  the  door  of 
the  church  as  the  people  passed  out,  and  heard  them 
discussing  the  speech.  Many  of  them  were  open  in 
the  expression  of  their  displeasure.  **  It's  a  shame," 
I  heard  one  man  say,  *'  that  he  should  be  permitted 
to  abuse  us  so  in  the  house  of  the  Lord."  The  truth 
was  the  society  was  composed  mainly  of  the  roughs 
and  drunkards  of  the  town,  who  had  evinced  a  desire 


248  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

to  reform.  Many  of  them  were  too  fresh  from  the 
gutter  to  be  taken  at  once  into  the  society  of  such 
people  as  worshipped  at  the  church  where  the 
speech  was  deHvered.  Neither  was  there  that 
concert  of  effort  so  universal  to-day  between  the 
churche3  and  temperance  societies  to  rescue  the 
fallen.  The  whole  thing,  I  repeat,  was  damaging  to 
Lincoln,  and  gave  rise  to  the  opposition  on  the 
part  of  the  churches  which  confronted  him  several 
years  afterwards  when  he  became  a  candidate  against 
the  noted  Peter  Cartwright  for  Congress.  The 
charge,  therefore,  that  in  matters  of  religion  he  was 
a  skeptic  was  not  without  its  supporters,  especially 
where  his  opponent  was  himself  a  preacher.  But, 
nothing  daunted,  Lincoln  kept  on  and  labored 
zealously  in  the  interest  of  the  temperance  move- 
ment. He  spoke  often  again  in  Springfield,  and 
also  in  other  places  over  the  country,  displaying 
the  same  courage  and  adherence  to  principle  that 
characterized  his  every  undertaking. 

Meanwhile,  he  had  one  eye  open  for  politics  as  he 
moved  along.  He  was  growing  more  self-reliant  in 
the  practice  of  law  every  day,  and  felt  amply  able  to 
take  charge  of  and  maintain  himself  in  any  case 
that  happened  to  come  into  his  hands.  His  pro. 
pensity  for  the  narration  of  an  apt  story  was  of  im- 
measurable aid  to  him  before  a  jury,  and  in  cases 
where  the  law  seemed  to  lean  towards  the  other 
side  won  him  many  a  case.  In  1842,  Martin  Van 
Buren,  who  had  just  left  the  Presidential  chair,  made 
a  journey  through  the  West.  He  was  accompanied 
by  his  former  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr.   Paulding 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  249 

and  in  June  they  reached  the  village  of  Rochester, 
distant  from  Springfield  six  miles.  It  was  evening 
when  they  arrived,  and  on  account  of  the  muddy 
roads  they  decided  to  go  no  farther,  but  to  rest 
there  for  the  night.  Word  was  sent  into  Springfield, 
and  of  course  the  leading  Democrats  of  the  capital 
hurried  out  to  meet  the  distinguished  visitor. 
Knowing  the  accommodations  at  Rochesterwere  not 
intended  for  or  suited  to  the  entertainment  of  an 
ex-President,  they  took  with  them  refreshments  in 
quantity  and  variety,  to  make  up  forall  deficiencies. 
Among  others,  they  prevailed  on  Lincoln,  although 
an  ardent  and  pronounced  Whig,  to  accompany 
them.  They  introduced  him  to  the  venerable  states- 
man of  Kinderhook  as  a  representative  lawyer,  and  a 
man  whose  wit  was  as  ready  as  his  store  of  anec- 
dotes was  exhaustless.  How  he  succeeded  in  enter- 
taining the  visitor  and  the  company,  those  who 
were  present  have  often  since  testified.  Van  Buren 
himself  entertained  the  crowd  with  reminiscences  of 
politics  in  New  York,  going  back  to  the  days  of 
Hamilton  and  Burr,  and  many  of  the  crowd  in  turn 
interested  him  with  graphic  descriptions  of  early 
life  on  the  western  frontier.  But  they  all  yielded 
at  last  to  the  piquancy  and  force  of  Lincoln's  queer 
stories.  *'  Of  these,*'  relates  one  of  the  company,^ 
''  there  was  a  constant  supply,  one  following  another 
in  rapid  succession,  each  more  irresistible  than  its 
predecessor.  The  fun  continued  until  after  midnight, 
and  until  the   distinguished  traveller   insisted   that 

*  Tos.  Gillespie,  MS.  letter,  September  6,  1866. 


250  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

his  sides  were  sore  from  laughing.**  The  yarns 
which  Lincoln  gravely  spun  out,  Van  Buren  assured 
the  crowd,  he  never  would  forget. 

After  April  14,  1841,  when  Lincoln  retired  from 
the  partnership  with  Stuart,  who  had  gone  to  Con- 
gress, he  had  .  been  associated  with  Stephen  T. 
Logan,  a  man  who  had,  as  he  deserved,  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  best  nisi prius  lawyer  in  the  State. 
Judge  Logan  was  a  very  orderly  but  somewhat 
technical  lawyer.  He  had  some  fondness  for  poli- 
tics, and  made  one  race  for  Congress,  but  he  lacked 
the  elements  of  a  successful  politician.  He  was  de- 
feated, and  returned  to  the  law.  He  was  assiduous 
in  study  and  tireless  in  search  of  legal  principles. 
He  was  industrious  and  very  thrifty,  delighted  to 
make  and  save  money,  and  died  a  rich  man.  Lin- 
coln had  none  of  Logan^s  qualities.  He  was  any- 
thing but  studious,  and  had  no  money  sense.  He 
was  five  years  younger,  and  yet  his  mind  and  make- 
up so  impressed  Logan  that  he  was  invited  into  the 
partnership  with  him.  Logan^s  example  had  a  good 
effect  on  Lincoln,  and  it  stimulated  him  to  unusual 
endeavors.  For  the  first  time  he  realized  the  effec- 
tiveness of  order  and  method  in  work,  but  his  old 
habits  eventually  overcame  him.  He  permitted  his 
partner  to  do  all  the  studying  in  the  preparation  of 
cases,  while  he  himself  trusted  to  his  general  knowl- 
edge of  the  law  and  the  inspiration  of  the  surround* 
ings  to  overcome  the  judge  or  the  jury.  Logan 
was  scrupulously  exact,  and  used  extraordinary  care 
in  the  preparation  of  papers.  His  words  were  well 
chosen,  and  his  style  of  comoosition  was  stately  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN^.,  2$I 

formal.  This  extended  even  to  his  letters.  This 
Lincoln  lacked  in  every  particular.  I  have  before 
me  a  letter  written  by  Lincoln  at  this  time  to  the 
proprietors  of  a  wholesale  store  in  Louisville,  for 
whom  suit  had  been  brought,  in  which,  after  notify- 
ing the  latter  of  the  sale  of  certain  real  estate  in 
satisfaction  of  their  judgment,  he  adds:  **As  to 
the  real  estate  we  cannot  attend  to  it.  We  are  not 
real  estate  agents,  we  are  lawyers.  We  recommend 
that  you  give  the  charge  of  it  to  Mr.  Isaac  S. 
Britton,  a  trustworthy  man,  and  one  whom  the 
Lord  made  on  purpose  for  such  business.'*  He 
gravely  signs  the  firm  name,  Logan  and  Lincoln,  to 
this  unlawyerlike  letter  and  sends  it  on  its  way. 
Logan  never  would  have  written  such  a  letter.  He 
had  too  much  gravity  and  austere  dignity  to  permit 
any  such  looseness  of  expression  in  letters  to  his 
clients  or  to  anyone  else. 

In  1843,  Logan  and  Lincoln  both  had  their  eyes 
set  on  the  race  for  Congress.  Logan's  claim  to  the 
honor  lay  in  his  age  and  the  services  he  had  ren- 
dered the  Whig  party,  while  Lincoln,  overflowing 
with  ambition,  lay  great  stress  on  his  legislative 
achievements,  and  demanded  it  because  he  had 
been  defeated  in  the  nominating  conventions  by 
both  Hardin  and  Baker  in  the  order  named.  That 
two  such  aspiring  politicians,  each  striving  to  obtain 
the  same  prize,  should  not  dwell  .harmoniously 
together  in  the  same  office  is  not  strange.  Indeed, 
we  may  reasonably  credit  the  story  that  they  con- 
sidered themselves  rivals,  and  that  numerous  acri^ 
monious  passages  took  place  between  them.     I  was 


252  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

not  surprised,  therefore,  one  morning,  to  see  Mr, 
Lincoln  come  rushing  up  into  my  quarters  and  with 
more  or  less  agitation  tell  me  he  had  determined  to 
sever  the  partnership  with  Logan.  I  confess  I  was 
surprised  when  he  invited  me  to  become  his  part- 
ner. I  was  young  in  the  practice  and  was  painfully 
aware  of  my  want  of  ability  and  experience  ;  but 
when  he  remarked  in  his  earnest,  honest  way, 
**  Billy,  I  can  trust  you,  if  you  can  trust  me,*'  I  felt 
relieved,  and  accepted  the  generous  proposal.  It 
has  always  been  a  matter  of  pride  with  me  that 
during  our  long  partnership,  continuing  on  until  it 
was  dissolved  by  the  bullet  of  the  assassin  Booth, 
we  never  had  any  personal  controversy  or  disagree 
ment.  I  never  stood  in  his  way  for  political  honors 
or  office,  and  I  believe  we  understood  each  other 
perfectly.  In  after  years,  when  he  became  more 
prominent,  and  our  practice  grew  to  respectable 
proportions,  other  ambitious  practitioners  under- 
took to  supplant  me  in  the  partnership.  One  of 
the  latter,  more  zealous  than  wise,  charged  that  I 
was  in  a  certain  way  weakening  the  influence  of  the 
firm.  I  am  flattered  to  know  that  Lincoln  turned 
on  this  last  named  individual  with  the  retort,  ''  I 
know  my  own  business,  I  reckon.  I  know  Billy 
Herndon  better  than  anybody,  and  even  if  what 
you  say  of  him  is  true  I  intend  to  stick  by  him.** 

Lincoln's  effort  to  obtain  the  Congressional  nom- 
ination in  1843  brought  out  several  unique  and 
amusing  incidents.  He  and  Edward  D.  Baker  were 
the  two  aspirants  from  Sangamon  county,  but 
Baker's  long  residence,  extensive  acquaintance,  and 


THE  LIFE    OF  LINCOLN,  253 

general  popularity  were  obstacles  Lincoln  could  not 
overcome ;  accordingly,  at  the  last  moment,  Lincoln 
reluctantly  withdrew  from  the  field.  In  a  letter  to 
his  friend  Speed,  dated  March  24,  1843,  ^^  describes 
the  situation  as  follows :  "  We  had  a  meeting  of  the 
Whigs  of  the  county  here  on  last  Monday,  to  ap- 
point delegates  to  a  district  convention  ;  and  Baker 
beat  me,  and  got  the  delegation  instructed  to  go 
for  him.  The  meeting,  in  spite  of  my  attempt  to 
decline  it,  appointed  me  one  of  the  delegates ;  so 
that  in  getting  Baker  the  nomination  I  shall  be 
fixed  a  good  deal  like  a  fellow  who  is  made  grooms- 
man to  a  man  that  has  cut  him  out,  and  is  marrying 
his  own  dear  gal.'*  Only  a  few  days  before  this  he 
had  written  a  friend  anent  the  Congressional  matter, 
"'  Now  if  you  should  hear  any  one  say  that  Lincoln 
don't  want  to  go  to  Congress,  I  wish  you,  as  a  per- 
sonal friend  of  mine,  would  tell  him  you  have 
reason  to  believe  he  is  mistaken.  The  truth  is  I 
would  like  to  go  very  much.  Still,  circumstances 
may  happen  which  may  prevent  my  being  a  candi- 
date. If  there  are  any  who  be  my  friends  in  such 
an  enterprise,  what  I  now  want  is  that  they  shall 
not  throw  me  away  just  yet.'**^  To  another  friend 
in  the  adjoining  county  of  Menard  a  few  days  after 
the  meeting  of  the  Whigs  in  Sangamon,  he  ex- 
plains how  Baker  defeated  him. 

The  entire  absence  of  any  feeling  of  bitterness, 
or  what  the  politicians  call  revenge,  is  the  most 
striking  feature  of  the  letter.     *'  It  is  truly  gratify. 

*  Letter  to  R.  S.  Thomas,  Virginia,  111.,  Feb.  14,  '43,  MS. 


254  '^^^  ^^^"^  OF  LINCOLN, 

ing/*  he  says,  **to  me  to  learn  that  while  the  peo- 
ple of  Sangamon  have  cast  me  off,  my  old  friends 
of  Menard,  who  have  known  me  longest  and  best, 
stick  to  me.  It  would  astonish  if  not  amuse  the 
older  citizens  to  learn  that  I  (a  strange,  friendless, 
uneducated,  penniless  boy,  working  on  a  flat-boat  at 
ten  dollars  per  month)  have  been  put  down 
here  as  the  candidate  of  pride,  wealth,  and  aristo- 
cratic family  distinction.  Yet  so,  chiefly,  it  was. 
There  was,  too,  the  strangest  combination  of 
church  influence  against  me.  Baker  is  a  Campbell- 
ite,  and  therefore  as  I  suppose,  with  few  excep- 
tions, got  all  that  church.  My  wife  has  some 
relations  in  the  Presbyterian  churches  and  some 
with  the  Episcopalian  churches,  and  therefore, 
wherever  it  would  tell,  I  was  set  down  as  either  the 
one  or  the  other,  while  it  was  everywhere  contended 
that  no  Christian  ought  to  go  for  me,  because  I 
belonged  to  no  church,  was  suspected  of  being  a 
deist,  and  had  talked  about  fighting  a  duel.  With 
all  these  things  Baker,  of  course,  had  nothing  to 
do ;  nor  do  I  complain  of  them.  As  to  his  own 
church  going  for  him  I  think  that  was  right  enough  ; 
and  as  to  the  influences  I  have  spoken  of  in  the 
other,  though  they  were  very  strong,  it  would  be 
grossly  untrue  and  unjust  to  charge  that  they  acted 
upon  them  in  a  body,  or  were  very  near  so.  I  only 
mean  that  those  influences  levied  a  tax  of  consider, 
able  per  cent,  and  throughout  the  religious  contro- 
versy.'* To  a  proposition  offering  to  instruct 
the  Menard  delegation  for  him  he  replies:  "You 
say  you  shall  instruct  your  delegates  for  me  unless 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  255 

I  object.  I  certainly  shall  not  object.  That  would 
be  too  pleasant  a  compliment  for  me  to  tread  in  the 
dust.  And  besides,  if  anything  should  happen 
(which,  however,  is  not  probable)  by  which  Baker 
should  be  thrown  out  of  the  fight,  I  would  be  at 
liberty  to  accept  the  nomination  if  I  could  get  it. 
I  do,  however,  feel  myself  bound  not  to  hinder  him 
in  any  way  from  getting  the  nomination.  I  should 
despise  myself  were  I  to  attempt  it." 

Baker's  friends  had  used  as  an  argument  against 
Lincoln  that  he  belonged  to  a  proud  and  aristo- 
cratic family,  referring  doubtless  to  some  of  the 
distinguished  relatives  who  were  connected  with 
him  by  marriage.  The  story  reaching  Lincoln's 
ears,,  he  laughed  heartily  over  it  one  day  in  a 
Springfield  store  and  remarked : 

*^  That  sounds  strange  to  me,  for  I  do  not  remem- 
ber of  but  one  who  ever  came  to  see  me,  and  while 
he  was  in  town  he  was  accused  of  stealing  a  jew's- 
harp."  ^  In  the  convention  which  was  held  shortly 
after  at  the  town  of  Pekin  neither  Baker  nor  Lincoln 
obtained  the  coveted  honor  ;  but  John  J.  Hardin,  of 
Morgan,  destined  to  lose  his  life  at  the  head  of  an 
Illinois  regiment  in  the  Mexican  war,  was  nomi- 
nated, and  in  the  following  August,  elected  by  a 
good  majority.  Lincoln  bore  his  defeat  manfully. 
He  was  no  doubt  greatly  disappointed,  but  by  no 
means  soured.  He  conceived  the  strange  notion 
that  the  publicity  given  his  so-called  **  aristocratic 
family  distinction  '*  would  cost  him  the  friendship 
of  his  humbler  constituents — his  Clary's  Grove 
*  Letter,  A.  Y.  Ellis,  July  16,  '66,  MS. 


256  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

friends.  He  took  his  friend  James  Matheney  out 
into  the  woods  with  him  one  day  and,  calling  up  the 
bitter  features  of  the  canvass,  protested  '*  vehemently 
and  with  great  emphasis''  that  he  was  anything 
but  aristocratic  and  proud.  *'Why,  Jim,"  he  said, 
''  I  am  now  and  always  shall  be  the  same  Abe 
Lincoln  I  was  when  you  first  saw  me.*' 

In  the  campaign  of  1844  Lincoln  filled  the  hon- 
orable post  of  Presidential  Elector,  and  he  extended 
the  limits  of  his  acquaintance  by  stumping  the 
State.  This  was  the  year  the  gallant  and  magnetic 
Clay  went  down  in  defeat.  Lincoln,  in  the  latter 
end  of  the  canvass,  crossed  over  into  Indiana  and 
made  several  speeches.  He  spoke  at  Rockport  and 
also  at  Gentryville,  where  he  met  the  Grigsbys,  the 
Gentrys,  and  other  friends  of  his  boyhood.  The 
result  of  the  election  was  a  severe  disappointment 
to  Mr.  Lincoln  as  well  as  to  all  other  Whigs.  No 
election  since  the  foundation  of  the  Government 
created  more  widespread  regret  than  the  defeat  of 
Clay  by  Polk.  Men  were  never  before  so  enlisted 
in  any  man's  cause,  and  when  the  great  Whig  chief- 
tain went  down  his  followers  fled  from  the  field  in 
utter  demoralization.  Some  doubted  the  success  of 
popular  government,  while  others,  more  hopeful 
still  in  the  face  of  the  general  disaster,  vowed  they 
would  never  shave  their  faces  or  cut  their  hair  till 
Henry  Clay  became  President.  As  late  as  1 880  I  saw 
one  man  who  had  lived  up  to  his  insane  resolution. 
One  political  society  organized  to  aid  Clay's  elec- 
tion sent  the  defeated  candidate  an  address,  in  which 
they  assured  him    that,  after  the  smoke  of  battle 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  257 

had  cleared  away,  he  would  ever  be  remembered 
as  one  **  whose  name  honored  defeat  and  gave  it  a 
glory  which  victory  could  not  have  brought/'  In 
Lincoln's  case  his  disappointment  was  no  greater 
than  that  of  any  other  Whig.  Many  persons  have 
yielded  to  the  impression  that  Mr.  Lincoln  visited 
Clay  at  his  home  in  Lexington  and  felt  a  personal 
loss  in  his  defeat,  but  such  is  not  the  case.  He 
took  no  more  gloomy  view  of  the  situation  than 
the  rest  of  his  party.  He  had  been  a  leading  figure 
himself  in  other  campaigns,  and  was  fully  inured 
to  the  chilling  blasts  of  defeat.  They  may  have 
driven  him  in,  but  only  for  a  short  time,  for  he  soon 
evinced  a  willingness  to  test  the  temper  of  the 
winds  again. 

No  sooner  had  Baker  been  elected  to  Congress  in 
August,  1844,  than  Lincoln  began  to  manifest  a 
longing  for  the  tempting  prize  to  be  contended  for 
in  1846.  Hardin  and  Baker  both  having  been 
required  to  content  themselves  with  a  single  term 
each,  the  struggle  among  Whig  aspirants  narrowed 
down  to  Logan  and  Lincoln."^     The  latter's  claim 

*  The  Whig  candidates  for  Congress  in  the  Springfield  district 
"rotated ''  in  the  following  order;  Baker  succeeded  Hardin  in  1844^ 
Lincoln  was  elected  in  1846,  and  Logan  was  nominated  but  defeated 
in  1848.  Lincoln  publicly  declined  to  contest  the  nomination  with 
Baker  in  1844 ;  Hardin  did  the  same  for  Lincoln  in  1846 — although 
both  seem  to  have  acted  reluctantly ;  and  Lincoln  refused  to  run 
against  Logan  in  1848.  Many  persons  insist  that  an  agreement 
among  these  four  conspicuous  Whig  leaders  to  content  themselves 
with  one  term  each  actually  existed.  There  is,  however,  no  proof  of 
any  bargain,  although  there  seems  to  have  been  a  tacit  understand- 
ing of  the  kind — maintained  probably  to  keep  other  and  less  tract* 
able  candidates  out  of  the  field. 


258  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

seemed  to  find  such  favorable  lodgment  with  the 
party  workers,  and  his  popularity  seemed  so  appar* 
ent,  that  Logan  soon  realized  his  own  want  of 
strength  and  abandoned  the  field  to  his  late  law 
partner.  The  convention  which  nominated  Lincoln 
met  at  Petersburg  May  i,  1846.  Hardin,  who,  in 
violation  of  what  was  then  regarded  as  precedent, 
had  been  seeking  the  nomination,  had  courteously 
withdrawn.  Logan,  ambitious  to  secure  the  honor 
next  time  for  himself,  with  apparent  generosity 
presented  Lincoln's  name  to  the  convention,  and 
there  being  no  other  candidate  he  was  chosen  unani- 
mously. The  reader  need  not  be  told  whom  the 
Democrats  placed  in  the  field  against  him.  It  was 
Peter  Cartwright,  the  famous  Methodist  divine  and 
circuit  rider.  An  energetic  canvass  of  three  months 
followed,  during  which  Lincoln  kept  his  forces  well 
in  hand.  He  was  active  and  alert,  speaking  every- 
where, and  abandoning  his  share  of  business  in  the 
law  office  entirely.  He  had  a  formidable  competi- 
tor in  Cartwright,  who  not  only  had  an  extensive 
following  by  reason  of  his  church  influence,  but 
rallied  many  more  supporters  around  his  standard 
by  his  pronounced  Jacksonian  attitude.  He  had 
come  into  Illinois  with  the  early  immigrants  from 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  had  at  one  time  or 
another  preached  to  almost  every  Methodist  con- 
gregation between  Springfield  and  Cairo.  He  had 
extensive  family  connections  all  over  the  district, 
was  almost  twenty-five  years  older  than  Lincoln, 
and  in  every  respect  a  dangerous  antagonist. 
Another  thing  which   operated  much  to  Lincoln's 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  259 

disadvantage  was  the  report  circulated  by  Cart- 
wright's  friends  with  respect  to  Lincoln's  religious 
views.  He  was  charged  with  the  grave  offence  of 
infidelity,  and  sentiments  which  he  was  reported  to 
have  expressed  with  reference  to  the  inspiration  of 
the  Bible  were  given  the  campaign  varnish  and 
passed  from  hand  to  hand.  His  slighting  allusion 
expressed  in  the  address  at  the  Presbyterian  Church 
before  the  Washington  Temperance  Society,  Feb- 
ruary 2d,  four  years  before,  to  the  insincerity  of  the 
Christian  people  was  not  forgotten.  It,  too,  played 
its  part ;  but  all  these  opposing  circumstances  were 
of  no  avail.  Cartwright  was  personally  very  popu- 
lar, but  it  was  plain  the  people  of  the  Springfield 
district  wanted  no  preacher  to  represent  them  in 
Congress.  They  believed  in  an  absolute  separation 
of  Church  and  State.  The  election,  therefore,  of 
such  a  man  as  Cartwright  would  not,  to  their  way  of 
thinking,  tend  to  promote  such  a  result.  I  was 
enthusiastic  and  active  in  Lincoln's  interest  myself. 
The  very  thought  of  my  associate's  becoming  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress  was  a  great  stimulus  to  my  self- 
importance.  Many  other  friends  in  and  around 
Springfield  were  equally  as  vigilant,  and,  in  the 
language  of  another,  ''  long  before  the  contest  closed 
we  snuffed  approaching  victory  in  the  air."  Our 
laborious  efforts  met  with  a  suitable  reward.  Lin- 
coln was  elected  by  a  majority  of  15 11  in  the  dis- 
trict, a  larger  vote  than  Clay's  two  years  before, 
which  was  only  914.  In  Sangamon  county  his 
majority  was  69c,  and  exceeded  that  of  any  of  his 
predecessors  on  the  Whig  ticket,  commencing  with 


26o  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

Stuart  in  1834  and  continuing  on  down  to  the  days 
^f  Yates  in  1852. 

Before  Lincoln*s  departure  for  Washington  to 
enter  on  his  duties  as  a  member  of  Congress,  the 
Mexican  war  had  begun.  The  volunteers  had  gone 
forward,  and  at  the  head  of  the  regiments  from 
IlHnois  some  of  the  bravest  men  and  the  best  legal 
talent  in  Springfield  had  marched.  Hardin,  Baker, 
Bissell,  and  even  the  dramatic  Shields  had  enlisted. 
The  issues  of  the  war  and  the  manner  of  its  prose- 
cution were  in  every  man*s  mouth.  Naturally, 
therefore,  a  Congressman-elect  would  be  expected 
to  publish  his  views  and  define  his  position  early 
in  the  day.  Although,  in  common  with  the  Whig 
party,  opposing  the  declaration  of  war,  Lincoln,  now 
that  hostilities  had  commenced,  urged  a  vigorous 
prosecution.  He  admonished  us  all  to  permit  our 
Government  to  suffer  no  dishonor,  and  to  stand  by 
the  flag  till  peace  came  and  came  honorably  to 
us.  He  declared  these  sentiments  in  a  speech  at  a 
public  meeting  in  Springfield,  May  29,  1847.  ^^ 
the  following  December  he  took  his  seat  in  Congress. 
He  was  the  only  Whig  from  Illinois.  His  col- 
leagues in  the  Illinois  delegation  were  John  A. 
McClernand,  O.  B.  Ficklin,  William  A.  Richardson, 
Thomas  J.  Turner, 'Robert  Smith,  and  John  Went- 
worth.  In  the  Senate  Douglas  had  made  his 
appearance  for  the  first  time.  The  Little  Giant  is 
always  in  sight !  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Massa. 
chusetts,  was  chosen  Speaker.  John  Quincy  Adams, 
Horace  Mann,  Caleb  Smith,  Alexander  H. 
Stephens,    Robert    Toombs,    Howell     Cobb,   and 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  26 1 

Andrew  Johnson  were  important  members  of  the 
House.  With  many  of  these  the  newly  elected 
member  from  Illinois  was  destined  to  sustain 
another  and  far  different  relation. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  the  day  before  the 
House  organized,  Lincoln  wrote  me  a  letter  about 
our  fee  in  a  law-suit,  and  reported  the  result  of  the 
Whig  caucus  the  night  before.  On  the  13th,  he 
wrote  again  :  *^  Dear  William  ; — ^Your  letter,  advising 
me  of  the  receipt  of  our  fee  in  the  bank  case,  is 
just  received,  and  I  don't  expect  to  hear  another  as 
good  a  piece  of  news  from  Springfield  while  I  am 
away.'*  He  then  directed  me  from  the  proceeds  of 
this  fee  to  pay  a  debt  at  the  bank,  and  out  of  the 
balance  left  to  settle  sundry  dry-goods  and  grocery 
bills.  The  modest  tone  of  the  last  paragraph  is 
its  most  striking  feature.  *^As  you  are  all  so 
anxious  for  me  to  distinguish  myself,*'  he  said,  *^  I 
have  concluded  to  do  so  before  long."  January  8 
he  writes:  '*As  to  speech-making,  by  way  of  get- 
ting the  hang  of  the  House,  I  made  a  little  speech 
two  or  three  days  ago  on  a  post-office  question  of 
no  general  interest.  I  find  speaking  here  and  else* 
where  about  the  same  thing.  I  was  about  as  badly 
scared,  and  no  worse,  as  I  am  when  I  speak  in  court, 
I  expect  to  make  one  within  a  week  or  two  in  which 
I  hope  to  succeed  well  enough  to  wish  you  to  see 
it."  Meanwhile,  in  recognition  of  the  assurances  I 
had  sent  him  from  friends  who  desired  to  approve 
his  course  by  a  re-election,  he  says :  ^'  It  is  very 
pleasant  to  me  to  learn  from  you  that  there  are 
some   who    desire  that  I  should    be    re-elected.     I 


262  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

most  heartily  thank  them  for  the  kind  partiality, 
and  I  can  say,  as  Mr.  Clay  said  of  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  that,  '  personally,  I  would  not  object  *  to  a 
re-election,  although  I  thought  at  the  time,  and 
still  think,  it  would  be  quite  as  well  for  me  to 
return  to  the  law  at  the  end  of  a  single  term.  I 
made  the  declaration  that  I  would  not  be  a  candi- 
date again,  more  from  a  wish  to  deal  fairly  with 
others,  to  keep  peace  among  our  friends,  and  to 
keep  the  district  from  going  to  the  enemy,  than  for 
any  cause  personal  to  myself,  so  that  if  it  should 
happen  that  nobody  else  wishes  to  be  elected  I 
could  not  refuse  the  people  the  right  of  sending 
me  again.  But  to  enter  myself  as  a  competitor  of 
others,  or  to  authorize  any  one  so  to  enter  me,  is 
what  my  word  and  honor  forbid." 

His  announcement  of  a  willingness  to  accept  a 
re-election  if  tendered  him.  by  the  people  was 
altogether  unnecessary,  for  within  a  few  days  after 
this  letter  was  written  his  constituents  began  to 
manifest  symptoms  of  grave  disapproval  of  his 
course  on  the  Mexican  war  question.  His  position 
on  this  subject  was  evidenced  by  certain  resolutions 
offered  by  him  in  the  House  three  weeks  before. 
These  latter  were  called  the  '*  Spot  Resolutions," 
and  they  and  the  speech  which  followed  on  the  12th 
of  January  in  support  of  them  not  only  sealed 
Lincoln's  doom  as  a  Congressman,  but  in  my 
opinion,  lost  the  district  to  the  Whigs  in  1848, 
when  Judge  Logan  had  succeeded  at  last  in  obtain- 
ing  the  nomination. 

Although  differing  with  the  President  as  to  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  263 

justice  or  even  propriety  of  a  war  with  Mexico, 
Lincoln  was  not  unwilling  to  vote,  and  with  the 
majority  of  his  party  did  vote,  the  supplies  neces- 
sary to  carry  it  on.  He  did  this,  however,  with 
great  reluctance,  protesting  all  the  while  that  *'the 
war  was  unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  begun 
by  the  President.'*  The  '' Spot  Resolutions,"  which 
served  as  a  text  for  his  speech  on  the  12th  of 
January,  and  which  caused  such  unwonted  annoy- 
ance in  the  ranks  of  his  constituents,  were  a  series 
following  a  preamble  loaded  with  quotations  from 
the  President's  messages.  These  resolutions  re- 
quested the  President  to  inform  the  House  :  ''  First. 
Whether  the  spot  on  which  the  blood  of  our  citizens 
was  shed  as  in  his  messages  declared  was  or  was  not 
within  the  territory  of  Spain,  at  least  after  the  treaty 
of  1819,  until  the  Mexican  revolution.  Second, 
Whether  that  spot  is  or  is  not  within  the  territory 
which  was  wrested  from  Spain  by  the  revolutionary 
government  of  Mexico.  Third,  Whether  that  spot 
is  or  is  not  within  a  settlement  of  people,  which 
settlement  has  existed  ever  since  long  before  the 
Texas  revolution,  and  until  its  inhabitants  fled 
before  the  approach  of  the  United  States  army.'* 
There  were  eight  of  these  interrogatories,  but  it  is 
only  necessary  to  reproduce  the  three  which  fore- 
shadow the  position  Lincoln  was  then  intending  to 
assume.  On  the  12th  of  January,  as  before  stated, 
he  followed  them  up  with  a  carefully  prepared  and 
well-arranged  speech,  in  which  he  made  a  severe 
arraignment  of  President  Polk  and  justified  the  per 
tinence  and  propriety  of  the  inquiries  he  had  a  few 


264  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

days  before  addressed  to  him.  The  speech  is  too 
long  for  insertion  here.  It  was  constructed  much 
after  the  manner  of  a  legal  argument.  Reviewing 
the  evidence  furnished  by  the  President  in  his 
various  messages,  he  undertook  to  **  smoke  him 
out"  with  this:  ''Let  the  President  answer  the 
interrogatories  I  proposed,  as  before  mentioned,  or 
other  similar  ones.  Let  him  answer  fully,  fairly, 
candidly.  Let  him  answer  with  facts,  not  with 
arguments.  Let  him  remember,  he  sits  where 
Washington  sat ;  and  so  remembering,  let  him 
answer  as  Washington  would  answer.  As  a  nation 
should  not,  and  the  Almighty  will  not,  be  evaded, 
so  let  him  attempt  no  evasion,  no  equivocation. 
And  if,  so  answering,  he  can  show  the  soil  was  ours 
where  the  first  blood  of  the  war  was  shed ;  that  it 
was  not  within  an  inhabited  country,  or  if  within 
such  ;  that  the  inhabitants  had  submitted  themselves 
to  the  civil  authority  of  Texas  or  of  the  United 
States;  and  that  the  same  is  true  of  the  site  of  Fort 
Brown,  then  I  am  with  him  for  his  justification.  .  . 
But  if  he  cannot  or  will  not  do  this — if,  on  any 
pretence,  or  no  pretence,  he  shall  refuse  or  omit  it 
— then  I  shall  be  fully  convinced  of  what  I  more 
than  suspect  already — that  he  is  deeply  conscious 
of  being  in  the  wrong ;  that  he  feels  the  blood  of 
this  war,  like  the  blood  of  Abel,  is  crying  to  Heaven 
against  him  ;  that  he  ordered  General  Taylor  into 
the  midst  of  a  peaceful  Mexican  settlement  pur- 
posely to  bring  on  a  war;  that,  originally  having 
some  strong  motive — which  I  will  not  now  stop  to 
give  my  opinion  concerning — to  involve  the  coun« 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


265 


tries  in  a  war,  and  trusting  to  escape  scrutiny  by 
fixing  the  public  gaze  upon  the  exceeding  bright- 
ness of  military  glory, — that  attractive  rainbow  that 
rises  in  showers  of  blood,  that  serpent's  eye  that 
charms  to  destroy, — he  plunged  into  it,  and  has 
swept  on  and  on,  till  disappointed  in  his  calculation 
of  the  ease  with  which  Mexico  might  be  subdued, 
he  now  finds  himself  he  knows  not  where.  He  is 
a  bewildered,  confounded,  and  miserably  perplexed 
man.  God  grant  that  he  may  be  able  to  show  that 
there  is  not  something  about  his  conscience  more 
painful  than  all  his  mental  perplexity/*  This  speech, 
however  clear  may  have  been  its  reasoning,  however 
rich  in  illustration,  in  restrained  and  burning 
earnestness,  yet  was  unsuccessful  in  "'  smoking 
out**  the  President.  He  remained  within  the  of- 
ficial seclusion  his  position  gave  him,  and  declined 
to  answer.  In  fact  it  is  doubtless  true  that  Lincoln 
anticipated  no  response,  but  simply  took  that  means 
of  defining  clearly  his  own  position. 

On  the  19th  inst.,  having  occasion  to  write  me  with 
reference  to  a  note  with  which  one  of  our  clients, 
one  Louis  Candler,  had  been  ''  annoying  *'  him, 
«*  not  the  least  of  which  annoyance,"  he  complains, 
**  is  his  cursed  unreadable  and  ungodly  handwrit- 
ing,** he  adds  a  line,  in  which  with  noticeable  mod- 
esty he  informs  me  :  "'  I  have  made  a  speech,  a  copy 
of  which  I  send  you  by  mail.**  He  doubtless  felt 
he  was  taking  rather  advanced  and  perhaps  ques- 
tionable ground.  And  so  he  was,  for  very  soon 
after,  murmurs  of  dissatisfaction  began  to  run 
through  the  Whig  ranks.  I  did  not,  as  some  of 
Lincoln*s  biographers  would  have  their  readers  be- 


266  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

lieve,  inaugurate  this  feeling  of  dissatisfaction.  On 
the  contrary,  as  the  law  partner  of  the  Congress- 
man, and  as  his  ardent  admirer,  I  discouraged  the 
defection  all  I  could.  Still,  when  I  listened  to  the 
comments  of  his  friends  everywhere  after  the  de- 
livery of  his  speech,  I  felt  that  he  had  made  a  mis- 
take. I  therefore  wrote  him  to  that  effect,  at  the 
same  time  giving  him  my  own  views,  which  I  knew 
were  in  full  accord  with  the  views  of  his  Whig  con- 
stituents. My  argument  in  substance  was  :  That 
the  President  of  the  United  States  is  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  ;  that  as  such  com- 
mander it  was  his  duty,  in  the  absence  of  Congress, 
if  the  country  was  about  to  be  invaded  and  armies 
were  organized  in  Mexico  for  that  purpose,  to  go 
— if  necessary — into  the  very  heart  of  Mexico  and 
prevent  the  invasion.  I  argued  further  that  it 
would  be  a  crime  in  the  Executive  to  let  the  coun- 
try be  invaded  in  the  least  degree.  The  action  of 
the  President  was  a  necessity,  and  under  a  simi- 
lar necessity  years  afterward  Mr.  Lincoln  himself 
emancipated  the  slaves,  although  he  had  no  special 
power  under  the  Constitution  to  do  so.  In  later 
days,  in  what  is  called  the  Hodges  letter,  concerning 
the  freedom  of  the  slaves,  he  used  this  language: 

*^  I  felt  that  measures  otherwise  unconstitutional 
might  become  lawful  by  becoming  indispensable.*' 

Briefly  stated,  that  was  the  strain  of  my  argument. 
My  judgment  was  formed  on  the  law  of  nations 
and  of  war.  If  the  facts  were  as  I  believed  them, 
and  my  premises  correct,  then  I  assumed  that  the 
President's  acts  became  lawful  by  becoming  indis- 
pensable. 


THE  L/FE  OF  LINCOLN,  267 

February  I  he  wrote  me,  ^'  Dear  William  :  You 
fear  that  you  and  I  disagree  about  the  war.  I  re- 
gret this,  not  because  of  any  fear  we  shall  remain 
disagreed  after  you  have  read  this  letter,  but 
because  if  you  misunderstand  1  fear  other  good 
friends  may  also/* 

Speaking  of  his  vote  in  favor  of  the  amendment 
to  the  supply  bill  proposed  by  George  Ashmun,  of 
Massachusetts,  he  continues : 

"  That  voteafifirms  that  the  war  was  unnecessarily 
and  unconstitutionally  commenced  by  the  Presi* 
dent ;  and  I  will  stake  my  life  that  if  you  had  been 
in  my  place  you  would  have  voted  just  as  I  did. 
Would  you  have  voted  what  you  felt  and  knew 
to  be  a  lie?  I  know  you  would  not.  Would  you 
have  gone  out  of  the  House, — skulked  the  vote  ?  I 
expect  not.  If  you  had  skulked  one  vote  you 
would  have  had  to  skulk  many  more  before  the 
close  of  the  session.  Richardson's  resolutions,  intro- 
duced before  I  made  any  move  or  gave  any  vote 
upon  the  subject,  make  the  direct  question  of  the 
justice  of  the  war  ;  so  that  no  man  can  be  silent  if 
he  would.  You  are  compelled  to  speak ;  and  your 
only  alternative  is  to  tell  the  truth  or  tell  a  lie.  I  can- 
not doubt  which  you  would  do.  .  .  I  do  not  mean 
this  letter  for  the  public,  but  for  you.  Before  it 
reaches  you  you  will  have  seen  and  read  my  pam- 
phlet speech  and  perhaps  have  been  scared  anev/  by 
it.  After  you  get  over  your  scare  read  it  over  again, 
sentence  by  sentence,  and  tell  me  honestly  what  you 
think  of  it.  I  condensed  all  I  could  for  fear  of 
being  cut  off  by  the  hour  rule  ;  and  when  I  got 
through  I  had  spoken  but  forty-five  minutes. 

^'  Yours  forever, 

^^A.  Lincoln.'* 


268  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

I  digress  from  the  Mexican  war  subject  long 
enough  to  insert,  because  in  the  order  of  time  it 
belongs  here,  a  characteristic  letter  which  he  wrote 
me  regarding  a  man  who  was  destined  at  a  later 
day  to  play  a  far  different  role  in  the  national 
drama.     Here  it  is: 

"Washington,  Feb.  2,  1848. 
*'  Dear  William  : 

*'  I  just  take  up  my  pen  to  say  that  Mr.  Stephens, 
of  Georgia,  a  little,  slim,  pale-faced,  consumptive  man, 
with  a  voice  like  Logan's,  has  just  concluded  the 
very  best  speech  of  an  hour's  length  I  ever  heard. 
My  old,  withered,  dry  eyes  are  full  of  tears  yet.  If 
he  writes  it  out  anything  like  he  delivered  it  our  pec- 
pie  shall  see  a  good  many  copies  of  it. 

*^  Yours  truly, 

^*  A.  Lincoln/* 

To  Wm.  H.  Herndon,  Esq. 

February  15  he  wrote  me  again  in  criticism  of 
the  President's  invasion  of  foreign  soil.  He  still  be- 
lieved the  Executive  had  exceeded  the  limit  of  his 
authority.  **The  provision  of  the  Constitution 
giving  the  war-making  power  to  Congress,"  he 
insists,  *^  was  dictated,  as  I  understand  it,  by  the 
following  reasons :  kings  had  always  been  involving 
and  impoverishing  their  people  in  wars,  pretending 
generally,  if  not  always,  that  the  good  of  the  peo- 
ple was  the  object.  This,  our  convention  under- 
stood to  be  the  most  oppressive  of  all  kingly 
oppressions  ;  and  they  resolved  to  so  frame  the 
Constitution  that  no  one  man  should  hold  the 
power  of  bringing    this  oppression    upon  us.     But 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  269 

your  view  destroys  the  whole  matter,  and  places  our 
President  where  kings  have  always  stood/* 

In  June  the  Whigs  met  in  national  convention  at 
Philadelphia  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  President. 
Lincoln  attended  as  a  delegate.  He  advocated  the 
nomination  of  Taylor  because  of  his  belief  that  he 
could  be  elected,  and  was  correspondingly  averse  to 
Clay  because  of  the  latter's  signal  defeat  in  1844. 
In  a  letter  from  Washington  a  few  days  after  the 
convention  he  predicts  the  election  of  *^  Old 
Rough."  He  says:  *^  In  my  opinion  we  shall  have 
a  most  overwhelming  glorious  triumph.  One  un- 
mistakable sign  is  that  all  the  odds  and  ends  are 
with  us — Barn-burners,  Native  Americans,  Tyler- 
men,  disappointed  office-seeking  Locofocos,  and  the 
Lord  knows  what  not.  .  .  .  Taylor^s  nomination 
takes  the  Locos  on  the  blind  side.  It  turns  the 
war  thunder  against  them.  The  war  is  now  to  them 
the  gallows  of  Haman,  which  they  built  for  us  and 
on  which  they  are  doomed  to  be  hanged  them- 
selves.*' 

Meanwhile,  in  spite  of  the  hopeful  view  Lincoln 
seemed  to  take  of  the  prospect,  things  in  his  own 
district  were  in  exceedingly  bad  repair.  I  could 
not  refrain  from  apprising  him  of  the  extensive 
defections  from  the  party  ranks,  and  the  injury  his 
course  was  doing  him.  My  object  in  thus  writing 
to  him  was  not  to  threaten  him.  Lincoln  was  not 
a  man  who  could  be  successfully  threatened ;  one 
had  to  approach  him  from  a  different  direction.  I 
warned  him  of  public  disappointment  over  his 
course,  and  I  earnestly  desired  to  prevent  him  from 


270  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

committing  what  I  believed  to  be  political  suicide, 
June  22d  he  answered  a  letter  I  had  written  him  on 
the  15th.  He  had  just  returned  from  a  Whig  caucus 
held  in  relation  to  the  coming  Presidential  electiono 
**  The  whole  field  of  the  nation  was  scanned  ;  all  is 
high  hope  and  confidence,"  he  said,  exultingly. 
'*'  Illinois  is  expected  to  better  her  condition  in  this 
race.  Under  these  circumstances  judge  how  heart- 
rending it  was  to  come  to  my  room  and  find  and 
read  your  discouraging  letter  of  the  15th."  But 
still  he  does  not  despair.  "  Now,  as  to  the  young 
men,''  he  says,  '^  you  must  not  wait  to  be  brought 
forward  by  the  older  men.  For  instance,  do  you 
suppose  that  I  should  ever  have  got  into  notice  if  I 
had  waited  to  be  hunted  up  and  pushed  forward 
by  older  men?  You  young  men  get  together 
and  form  a  Rough  and  Ready  club,  and  have 
regular  meetings  and  speeches.  Take  in  everybody 
that  you  can  get.  ...  As  you  go  along  gather  up 
all  the  shrewd,  wild  boys  about  town,  whether  just 
of  age  or  a  little  under  age.  Let  every  one  play 
the  part  he  can  play  best — some  speak,  some  sing, 
and  all  halloo.  Your  meetings  will  be  of  evenings  v 
the  older  men  and  the  women  will  go  to  hear  you, 
so  that  it  will  not  only  contribute  to  the  election  of 
'  Old  Zack,'  but  will  be  an  interesting  pastime  and 
improving  to  the  faculties  of  all  engaged."  He  was 
evidently  endeavoring  through  me  to  rouse  up  all 
the  enthusiasm  among  the  youth  of  Springfield  pos- 
sible under  the  circumstances.  But  I  was  disposed 
to  take  a  dispirited  view  of  the  situation,  and  there- 
fore was  not  easily  warmed  up.     I  felt  at  this  time, 


iTffL  L^irE  OF  LINCOLN-.  2Jl 

somewhat  in  advance  of  its  occurrence,  the  death 
throes  of  the  Whig  party.  I  did  not  conceal  my 
suspicions,  and  one  of  the  Springfield  papers  gave 
my  sentiments  liberal  quotation  in  its  columns.  I 
felt  gloomy  over  the  prospect,  and  cut  out  these 
newspaper  slips  and  sent  them  to  Lincoln.  Accom- 
panying these  I  wrote  him  a  letter  equally  melan- 
choly in  tone,  in  which  among  other  things  1 
reflected  severely  on  the  stubbornnees  and  bad 
judgment  of  the  old  fossils  ip  the  party,  who  were 
constantly  holding  the  young  men  back.  This 
brought  from  him  a  letter,  July  lo,  1848,  which  is 
so  clearly  Lincolnian  and  so  full  of  plain  philosophy, 
that  I  copy  it  in  full.  Not  the  least  singular  of  all 
IS  his  allusion  to  himself  as  an  old  man,  although 
he  had  scarcely  passed  his  thirty-ninth  year. 

''Washington,  July  10,  1848. 

*'  Dear  William  : 

*'  Your  letter  covering  the  newspaper  slips 
was  received  last  night.  The  subject  of  that 
letter  is  exceedingly  painful  to  me,  and  I  can- 
not but  think  there  is  some  mistake  in  your  im- 
pression of  the  motives  of  the  old  men.  I  suppose 
I  am  now  one  of  the  old  men  ;  and  I  declare  on  my 
veracity,  which  I  think  is  good  with  you,  that  noth- 
ing could  afford  me  more  satisfaction  than  to  learn 
that  you  and  others  of  my  young  friends  at  home 
were  doing  battle  in  the  contest  and  endearing 
themselves  to  the  people  and  taking  a  stand  far 
above  any  I  have  ever  been  able  to  reach  in  their 
admiration.  I  cannot  conceive  that  other  men 
feel  differently.  Of  course  I  cannot  demonstrate 
what  I  say ;  but  I  was  young  once,  and  I  am  sure  I 
was  never  ungenerously  thrust  back.    I  hardly  know 


272  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

what  to  say.  The  way  for  a  young  man  to  rise  is 
to  improve  himself  every  way  he  can,  never  suspect- 
ing that  anybody  wishes  to  hinder  him.  Allow  me 
to  assure  you  that  suspicion  and  jealousy  never  did 
help  any  man  in  any  situation.  There  may  some- 
times be  ungenerous  attempts  to  keep  a  young  man 
down ;  and  they  will  succeed,  too,  if  he  allows  his 
mind  to  be  diverted  from  its  true  channel  to  brood 
over  the  attempted  injury.  Cast  about  and  see  if 
this  feeling  has  not  injured  every  person  you  have 
ever  known  to  fall  into  it. 

"  Now,  in  what  I  have  said  I  am  sure  you  will  sus- 
pect nothing  but  sincere  friendship.  I  would  save 
you  from  a  fatal  error.  You  have  been  a  laborious, 
studious  young  man.  You  are  far  better  informed 
on  almost  all  subjects  than  I  ever  have  been.  You 
cannot  fail  in  any  laudable  object  unless  you  allow 
your  mind  to  be  improperly  directed.  I  have  some 
the  advantage  of  you  in  the  world*s  experience 
merely  by  being  older ;  and  it  is  this  that  induces 
me  to  advise. 

**  Your  friend,  as  ever, 

'*A.  Lincoln.'* 

Before  the  close  of  the  Congressional  session  he 
made  two  more  speeches.  One  of  these,  which  he 
hastened  to  send  home  in  pamphlet  form,  and  which 
he  supposes  **  nobody  will  read,*'  was  devoted  to 
the  familiar  subject  of  internal  improvements,  and 
deserves  only  passing  mention.  The  other,  deliv- 
ered on  the  27th  of  July,  was  in  its  way  a  master- 
piece ;  and  it  is  no  stretch  of  the  truth  to  say  that 
while  intended  simply  as  a  campaign  document  and 
devoid  of  any  effort  at  classic  oratory,  it  was,  per- 
haps, one  of  the  best  speeches  of  the  session.  It  is 
too  extended  for  insertion  here  without  abridgment; 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  2/3 

but  one  who  reads  it  will  lay  it  down  convinced 
that  Lincoln's  ascendency  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
among  the  political  spirits  in  Illinois  was  by  no 
means  an  accident  ^neither  will  the  reader  wonder 
that  Douglas,  with  all  his  forensic  ability,  averted,  as 
long  as  he  could,  a  contest  with  a  man  whose  plain, 
analytical  reasoning  was  not  less  potent  than  hia 
mingled  drollery  and  caricature  were  effective.  The 
speech  in  the  main  is  an  arraignment  of  General 
Cass,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  President,  who 
had  already  achieved  great  renown  in  the  political 
world,  principally  on  account  of  his  career  as  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  is  a  triumphant  vin- 
dication of  his  Whig  opponent.  General  Taylor,  who 
seemed  to  have  had  a  less  extensive  knowledge  of 
civil  than  of  military  affairs,  and  was  discreetly  silent 
about  both,  Lincoln  caricatured  the  military  pre- 
tensions of  the  Democratic  candidate  in  picturesque 
style.  This  latter  section  of  the  speech  has  hereto- 
fore been  omitted  by  most  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  biog- 
raphers because  of  its  glaring  inappropriateness  as 
a  Congressional  effort.  I  have  always  failed  to  see 
wherein  its  comparison  with  scores  of  others  deliv- 
ered in  the  halls  of  Congress  since  that  time  could 
in  any  way  detract  from  the  fame  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
and  I  therefore  reproduce  it  here  : 

''  But  the  gentleman  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Iverson] 
further  says,  we  have  deserted  all  our  principles,  and 
taken  shelter  under  General  Taylor's  military  coat- 
tail  ;  and  he  seems  to  think  this  is  exceedingly  de- 
grading. Well,  as  his  faith  is,  so  be  it  unto  hinn. 
But  can  he  remember  no  other  military  coat-tail. 


274  ^-^^  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

under  which  a  certain  other  party  have  been  shelter- 
ing for  near  a  quarter  of  a  century?  Has  he  no  ac- 
quaintance with  the  ample  military  coat-tail  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson  ?  Does  he  not  know  that  his  own  party 
have  run  the  last  five  Presidential  races  under  that 
coat-tail?  and  that  they  are  now  running  the  sixth 
under  the  same  cover?  Yes,  sir,  that  coat-tail  was 
used  not  only  for  General  Jackson  himself,  but  has 
been  clung  to  with  the  grip  of  death  by  every  Demo- 
cratic candidate  since.  You  have  never  ventured, 
and  dare  not  now  venture  from  under  it.  Your  cam- 
paign papers  have  constantly  been  ^  Old  Hickory's/ 
with  rude  likenesses  of  the  old  general  upon  them  ; 
hickory  poles  and  hickory  brooms  your  never-ending 
emblems.  Mr.  Polk  himself  was  *  Young  Hickor)^/ 
*  Little  Hickory,'  or  something  so ;  and  even  now 
your  campaign  paper  here  is  proclaiming  that  Cass 
and  Butler  are  of  the  *  Hickory  stripe.*  No,  sir,  you 
dare  not  give  it  up.  Like  a  horde  of  hungry  ticks, 
you  have  stuck  to  the  tail  of  the  Hermitage  lion  to 
the  end  of  his  life ;  and  you  are  still  sticking  to  it, 
and  drawing  a  loathsome  sustenance  from  it,  after 
he  is  dead.  A  fellow  once  advertised  that  he  had 
made  a  discovery  by  which  he  could  make  a  new 
man  out  of  an  old  one  and  have  enough  of  the  stuff 
left  to  make  a  little  yellow  dog.  Just  such  a  dis- 
covery has  General  Jackson*s  popularity  been  to 
you.  You  not  only  twice  made  Presidents  of  him 
out  of  it,  but  you  have  enough  of  the  stuff  left  to 
make  Presidents  of  several  comparatively  small  men 
since;  and  it  is  your  chief  reliance  now  to  make  still 
another. 

**  Mr.  Speaker,  old  horses  and  military  coat-tails, 
or  tails  of  any  sort,  are  not  figures  of  speech  such 
as  I  would  be  the  first  to  introduce  into  discussion 
here ;  but  as  the  gentleman  from  Georgia  has 
thought  fit  to  introduce  them,  he  and  you  are  wel- 
come to  all  you  have  made  or  can   make  by  them. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  2/5 

If  you  have  anymore  old  horses,  trot  them  out ; 
any  more  tails,  just  cock  them  and  come  at  us.  I 
repeat,  I  would  not  introduce  this  mode  of  discus- 
sion here ;  but  I  wish  gentlemen  on  the  other  side 
to  understand  that  the  use  of  degrading  figures  is 
a  game  at  which  they  may  find  themselves  unable 
to  take  all  the  winnings.  [A  voice  ^  No,  we  give  it 
up.']  Aye  !  you  give  it  up,  and  well  you  may ;  but 
for  a  very  different  reason  from  that  which  you 
vv^ould  have  us  understand.  The  point — the  power 
to  hurt — of  all  figures  consists  in  the  truthfulness 
of  their  application  ;  and,  understanding  this,  you 
may  well  give  it  up.  They  are  weapons  which  hit 
you,  but  miss  us. 

*'  But  in  my  hurry  I  was  very  near  closing  on  this 
subject  of  military  tails  before  I  was  done  with  it. 
There  is  one  entire  article  of  the  sort  I  have  not 
discussed  yet ;  I  mean  the  military  tail  you  Demo- 
crats are  now  engaged  in  dovetailing  on  to  the 
great  Michigander.  Yes,  sir,  all  his  biographers 
(and  they  are  legion)  have  him  in  hand,  tying  him 
to  a  military  tail,  like  so  many  mischievous 
boys  tying  a  dog  to  a  bladder  of  beans.  True,  the 
material  is  very  limited,  but  they  are  at  it  might 
and  main.  He  invaded  Canada  without  resistance, 
and  he  outvaded  it  without  pursuit.  As  he  did 
both  under  orders,  I  suppose  there  was  to  him 
neither  credit  nor  discredit ;  but  they  are  made  to 
constitute  a  large  part  of  the  tail.  He  was  not  at 
HulFs  surrender,  but  he  was  close  by  ;  he  was  vol- 
unteer aid  to  General  Harrison  on  the  day  of  the 
battle  of  the  Thames;  and  as  you  said  in  1840 
Harrison  was  picking  whortleberries  two  miles  off 
while  the  battle  was  fought,  I  suppose  it  is  a  just  con- 
clusion with  you  to  say  Cass  was  aiding  Harrison  to 
pick  whortleberries.  This  is  about  all,  except  the 
mooted  question  of  the  broken  sword.  Some  au- 
thors say  he  broke  it :  some  say  he  threw  it  away ; 


2^6  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

and  some  others,  who  ought  to  know,  say  nothing 
about  it.  Perhaps  it  would  be  a  fair  historical  com- 
promise to  say  if  he  did  not  break  it,  he  did  not  do 
anything  else  with  it. 

*'  By  the  way,  Mr.  Speaker,  did  you  know  I  am  a 
military  hero  ?  Yes,  sir,  in  the  days  of  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  I  fought,  bled,  and  came  away.  Speak- 
ing of  General  Cass's  career,  reminds  me  of  my  own. 
I  was  not  at  Stillman's  defeat,  but  I  was  about  as 
near  it  as  Cass  was  to  Hull's  surrender;  and,  like 
him,  I  saw  the  place  very  soon  afterward.  It  is 
quite  certain  I  did  not  break  my  sword,  for  I  had 
none  to  break,  but  I  bent  my  musket  pretty  badly 
on  one  occasion.  If  Cass  broke  his  sword,  the  idea 
is,  he  broke  it  in  desperation ;  I  bent  the  musket  by 
accident.  If  General  Cass  went  in  advance  of  me 
picking  whortleberries,  I  guess  I  surpassed  him  in 
charges  upon  the  wild  onions.  If  he  saw  any  live 
fighting  Indians,  it  was  more  than  I  did,  but  I  had 
a  good  many  bloody  struggles  with  the  mosquitos  ; 
and,  although  I  never  fainted  from  loss  of  blood,  I 
can  truly  say  I  was  often  very  hungry.  Mr. 
Speaker,  if  ever  I  should  conclude  to  doff  whatever 
our  Democratic  friends  may  suppose  there  is  of 
black-cockade  Federalism  about  me,  and,  thereupon 
they  shall  take  me  up  as  their  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  I  protest  that  they  shall  not  make  fun 
of  me  as  they  have  of  General  Cass  by  attempting 
to  write  me  into  a  military  hero.'* 

After  the  adjournment  of  Congress  on  the  14th 
of  August,  Lincoln  went  through  New  York  and 
some  of  the  New  England  States  making  a  number 
of  speeches  for  Taylor,  none  of  which,  owing  to  the 
limited  facilities  attending  newspaper  reporting  in 
that  day,  have  been  preserved.  He  returned  to 
Illinois  before  the  close    of  the  canvass  and   con- 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  2/7 

tinued  his  efforts  on  the  stump  till  the  electiorio 
At  the  second  session  of  Congress,  which  began  in 
December,  he  was  less  conspicuous  than  before.  The 
few  weeks  spent  with  his  constituents  had  perhaps 
taught  him  that  in  order  to  succeed  as  a  Congress- 
man it  is  not  always  the  most  politic  thing  to  tell 
the  truth  because  it  is  the  truth,  or  do  right  because 
it  is  right.  With  the  opening  of  Congress,  by  virtue 
of  the  election  of  Taylor,  the  Whigs  obtained  the 
ascendency  in  the  control  of  governmental  machin- 
ery. He  attended  to  the  duties  of  the  Congres- 
sional office  diligently  and  with  becoming  modesty. 
He  answered  tl^.c  letters  of  his  constituents,  sent 
them  their  public  documents,  and  looked  after 
their  pension  churns.  His  only  public  act  of  any 
moment  was  a  bill  looking  to  the  emancipation  of 
the  slaves  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  inter- 
ested Joshua  R.  Giddings  and  others  of  equally  as 
pronounced  anti-slavery  views  in  the  subject,  but 
his  bill  eventually  found  a  lodgment  on**  the  table," 
where  it  was  carefully  but  promptly  laid  by  a  vote 
of  the  House. 

Meanwhile,  being  chargeable  with  the  distribu- 
tion of  official  patronage,  he  began  to  flounder 
about  in  explanation  of  his  action  in  a  sea  of  seem- 
ingly endless  perplexities.  His  recommendation 
of  the  appointment  of  T.  R.  King  to  be  Regis- 
ter or  Receiver  of  the  Land  Office  had  pro- 
duced no  little  discord  among  the  other  aspirants 
for  the  place.  He  wrote  to  a  friend  who  endorsed 
and  urged  the  appointment,  **  either  to  admit  it  is 
wrong,  or  come  forward  and  sustain  him.'*     He  then 


278  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

transmits  to  this  same  friend  a  scrap  of  paper — pro- 
bably a  few  lines  approving  the  selection  of  King — 
which  is  to  be  copied  in  the  friend's  own  handwrit- 
ing. *'  Get  everybody/'  he  insists,  **  (not  three  or 
four,  but  three  or  four  hundred)  to  sign  it,  and 
then  send  to  me.  Also  have  six,  eight,  or  ten  of 
our  best  known  Whig  friends  to  write  me  additional 
letters,  stating  the  truth  in  this  matter  as  they  un- 
derstood it.  Don't  neglect  or  delay  in  the  matter. 
I  understand,"  he  continues,  "  information  of  an  in- 
dictment having  been  found  against  him  three  years 
ago  for  gaming  or  keeping  a  gaming  house  has 
been  sent  to  the  Department."  He  then  closes  with 
the  comforting  assurance:  ^^  I  shall  try  to  take  care 
of  it  at  the  Department  till  your  action  can  be  had 
and  forwarded  on."  And  still  people  insist  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  such  a  guileless  man  and  so  free 
from  the  politician's  sagacity  ! 

In  June  I  wrote  him  regarding  the  case  of  one 
Walter  Davis,  who  was  soured  and  disappointed 
because  Lincoln  had  overlooked  him  in  his  recom- 
mendation for  the  Springfield  post-office.  *^  There 
must  be  some  mistake,"  he  responds  on  the  5th, 
''  about  Walter  Davis  saying  I  promised  him  the 
post-office.  I  did  not  so  promise  him.  I  did  tell 
him  that  if  the  distribution  of  the  offices  should 
fall  into  my  hands  he  should  have  something  ;  and 
if  I  shall  be  convinced  he  has  said  any  more  than 
this  I  shall  be  disappointed.  I  said  this  much  to  him 
because,  as  I  understand,  he  is  of  good  character,  is 
one  of  the  young  men,  is  of  the  mechanics,  is  always 
faithful  and  never  troublesome,  a  Whig,  and  is  poor, 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


279 


With  the  support  of  a  widow-mother  thrown  almost 
exclusively  on  him  by  the  death  of  his  brother.  If 
these  are  wrong  reasons  then  I  have  been  wrong ; 
but  I  have  certainly  not  been  selfish  in  it,  because 
in  my  greatest  need  of  friends  he  was  against  me 
and  for  Baker/' 

Judge  Logan's  defeat  in  1848  left  Lincoln  still 
in  a  measure  in  charge  of  the  patronage  in  his  dis- 
trict. After  his  term  in  Congress  expired  the 
*^ wriggle  and  struggle'*  for  ofifice  continued;  and 
he  was  often  appealed  to  for  his  influence  in  obtain- 
ing, as  he  termed  it,  ''  a  way  to  live  without  work." 
Occasionally,  when  hard  pressed,  he  retorted  with 
bitter  sarcasm.  I  append  a  letter  written  in  this 
vein  to  a  gentleman  still  living  in  central  Illinois, 
who,  I  suppose,  would  prefer  that  his  name  should 
be  withheld : 

**  Springfield,  Dec.  15,  1849. 
Esq. 


''  Dear  Sir  : 
**0n  my  return  from  Kentucky  I  found  your  let- 
ter of  the  7th  of  November,  and  have  delayed 
answering  it  till  now  for  the  reason  I  now  briefly 
state.  From  the  beginning  of  our  acquaintance  I 
had  felt  the  greatest  kindness  for  you  and  had  sup- 
posed it  was  reciprocated  on  your  part.  Last  sum- 
mer, under  circumstances  which  I  mentioned  to  you, 
I  was  painfully  constrained  to  withhold  a  recom- 
mendation which  you  desired,  and  shortly  after- 
wards I  learned,  in  such  a  way  as  to  believe  it,  that 
you  were  indulging  in  open  abuse  of  me.  Of  course 
my  feelings  were  wounded.  On  receiving  your 
last  letter  the  question  occurred  whether  you  were 
attempting  to  use  me  at  the  same  time  you  would 


28o  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

injure  me,  or  whether  you  might  not  have  been 
misrepresented  to  me.  If  the  former,  I  ought  not 
to  answer  you  ;  if  the  latter,  I  ought,  and  so  I  have 
remained  in  suspense.  I  now  enclose  you  the  let- 
ter, which  you  may  use  if  you  see  fit. 

^*  Yours,  etc. 

''  A.  Lincoln/' 

No  doubt  the  man,  when  Lincoln  declined  at  first 
to  recommend  him,  did  resort  to  more  or  less  abuse. 
That  would  have  been  natural,  especially  with  an 
unsuccessful  and  disappointed  office-seeker.  I  am 
inclined  to  the  opinion,  and  a  careful  reading  of  the 
letter  will  warrant  it,  that  Lincoln  believed  him 
guilty.  If  the  recommendation  which  Lincoln,  after 
so  much  reluctance,  gave  was  ever  used  to  further 
the  applicant's  cause  I  do  not  know  it. 

With  the  close  of  Lincoln's  congressional  career 
he  drops  out  of  sight  as  a  political  factor,  and  for 
the  next  few  years  we  take  him  up  in  another  capac- 
ity. He  did  not  solicit  or  contend  for  a  renomina- 
tion  to  Congress,  and  such  was  the  unfortunate 
result  of  his  position  on  public  questions  that  it  is 
doubtful  if  he  could  have  succeeded  had  he  done 
so. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Immediately  following  the  adjournment  of  Con- 
gress in  August,  1848,  Mr.  Lincoln  set  out  for  Massa- 
chusetts to  take  part  in  the  presidential  campaign. 
Being  the  only  Whig  in  the  delegation  in  Congress 
from  Illinois,  he  was  expected  to  do  gallant  work  for 
his  chief,  General  Taylor.  As  this  chapter  in  his 
career  seems  to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  former 
biographers,  the  writers  have  thought  best  to  insert 
here  extracts  from  the  various  descriptions  which 
they  have  been  able  to  obtain  of  the  tour  and  its  in- 
cidents. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  accounts  is  from  the 
pen  of  Hon.  Edward  L.  Pierce,  of  Milton,  Mass., 
whose  memory  is  not  less  tenacious  than  is  his  styk 
happy  and  entertaining.     He  says: 

''  It  is  not  known  at  whose  instance  Mr.  Lincoln 
made  his  visits  to  Massachusetts  in  1848.  The  Whigs 
of  the  State  were  hard  pressed  at  the  time  by  a  for- 
midable secession  growing  out  of  General  Taylor's 
nomination,  and  led  by  Henry  Wilson,  Charles  Fran- 
cis Adams,  Charles  Allen,  Charles  Sumner,  Stephen 
C.  Phillips,  John  G.  Palfrey,  E.  Rockwood  Hoar, 
Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr.,  Anson  Burlingame,  John  A. 
Andrew,  and  other  leaders  who  had  great  weight 
v/ith  the  people  and  were  all  effective  public  speak- 


;582  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 

ers.  Generally  the  State  had  had  a  sufficient  supply 
of  orators  of  its  own,  but  in  that  emergency  some 
outside  aid  was  sought.  Gen.  Leslie  Coombs  was  in- 
vited from  Kentucky,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  induced  to 
come  also,  on  his  way  home  from  Washington  at  the 
end  of  the  session. 

''  The  Whig  State  Convention  met  at  Worcester, 
September  13th.  The  Free-Soil  secession  was  great- 
er here  than  in  any  part  of  the  State.  It  was  led  by 
Judge  Charles  Allen,  who  was  elected  to  Congress 
from  the  district.  There  was  a  meeting  of  the  Whigs 
at  the  City  Hall  on  the  evening  before  the  conven- 
tion. Ensign  Kellogg  presided  and  except  his  intro- 
ductory remarks,  Mr.  Lincoln's  speech,  which  lasted 
one  and  a  half  or  two  hours,  was  the  only  one.  The 
Boston  Advertiser  s  report  was  nearly  a  column  in 
length.  It  said :  *  Mr.  Lincoln  has  a  very  tall  and 
thin  figure,  with  an  intellectual  face,  showing  a  search- 
ing mind  and  a  cool  judgment.  He  spoke  in  a  clear 
and  cool  and  very  eloquent  manner,  carrying  the 
audience  with  him  in  his  able  arguments  and  brilliant 
illustrations,  only  interrupted  by  warm  and  frequent 
applause.  He  began  by  expressing  a  real  feeling  of 
modesty  in  addressing  an  audience  "  this  side  of  the 
mountains,"  a  part  of  the  country  where,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  people  of  his  section,  everybody  was  sup- 
posed to  be  instructed  and  wise.  But  he  had  devoted 
his  attention  to  the  question  of  the  coming  presiden- 
tial election,  and  was  not  unwilling  to  exchange  with 
all  whom  he  might  meet  the  ideas  to  which  he  had 
arrived.*  This  passage  gives  some  reason  to  suppose 
that,  conscious  of  his  powers,  he  was  disposed  to  try 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


283 


them  before  audiences  somewhat  different  from  those 
to  which  he  had  been  accustomed,  and  therefore  he 
had  come  to  New  England.  The  first  part  of  his 
speech  was  a  reply,  at  some  length,  to  the  charge  that 
General  Taylor  had  no  political  principles ;  and  he 
maintained  that  the  General  stood  on  the  true  Whig 
principle,  that  the  will  of  the  people  should  prevail 
against  executive  influence  or  the  veto  power  of  the 
President.  He  justified  the  Whigs  for  omitting  to  put 
a  national  platform  before  the  people,  and,  according 
to  a  Free-Soil  report,  said  that  a  political  platform 
should  be  frowned  down  whenever  and  wherever  pre- 
sented. But  the  stress  of  his  speech  was  against  the 
Free-Soilers,  whose  position  as  to  the  exclusion  of 
slavery  from  the  territories,  he  claimed,  to  be  that  of 
the  Whigs ;  while  the  former  were  subject  to  the 
further  criticism  that  they  had  but  one  principle,  re- 
minding  him  of  the  Yankee  peddler,  who,  in  offering 
for  sale  a  pair  of  pantaloons,  described  them  as  '  large 
enough  for  any  man,  and  small  enough  for  any  boy.* 
He  condemned  the  Free-Soilers  as  helping  to  elect 
Cass,  who  was  less  likely  to  promote  freedom  in  the 
territories  than  Taylor  and  passed  judgment  on  them 
as  having  less  principle  than  any  party.  To  their  de- 
fence of  their  right  and  duty  to  act  independently, 
*  leaving  consequences  to  God,'  he  replied,  that  *  when 
divine  or  human  law  does  not  clearly  point  out  what 
is  our  duty,  it  must  be  found  out  by  an  intelligent 
judgment,  which  takes  in  the  results  of  action.*  The 
Free-Soilers  were  much  offended  by  a  passage  which 
does  not  appear  in  the  Whig  report.  Referring  to 
the  anti-slavery  men,  he  said  they  were  better  treated 


284  ^"^^  ^^^^  ^^  LINCOLN, 

in  Massachusetts  than  in  the  West,  and,  turning  to 
William  S.  Lincoln,  of  Worcester,  who  had  lived  in 
Illinois,  he  remarked  that  in  that  State  they  had  re- 
cently killed  one  of  them.  This  allusion  to  Lovejoy's 
murder  at  Alton,  was  thought  by  the  Free-Soilers  to 
be  heartless,  and  it  was  noted  that  Mr.  Lincoln  did; 
not  repeat  it  in  other  speeches.  It  was  probably  a  I 
casual  remark,  which  came  into  his  mind  at  the  mo- 1 
ment,  and  meant  but  little,  if  anything.  Cheers  were  ^ 
given  at  the  end  of  the  speech  for  the  eloquent  Whig 
member  from  Illinois.  The  Whig  reports  spoke  of 
the  speech  as  ^  masterly  and  convincing  *  and  ^  one  of 
the  best  ever  made  in  Worcester ; '  while  the  Free- 
Soil  report  describes  it  as  '  a  pretty  tedious  affair.* 
The  next  morning  he  spoke  at  an  open-air  meeting, 
following  Benjamin  F.  Thomas  and  Ex-Governor 
Levi  Lincoln,  but  his  speech  was  cut  short  by  the 
arrival  by  train  of  the  delegates  from  Boston,  who, 
with  the  speakers,  proceeded  at  once  to  the  hall. 
The  convention  listened  to  a  long  address  to  the  peo- 
ple, reported  by  a  committee,  and  then  to  a  brilliant 
speech  from  Rufus  Choate,  followed  by  others  from 
Robert  C.  Winthrop,  the  Whig  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  Charles  Hudson,  M.  C,  and  Ben- 
jamin F.  Thomas.  Mr.  Lincoln  listened  to  these,  but 
was  not  himself  called  out. 

Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  at  Washingtonian  Hall,  Brom- 
field  street,  Boston,  on  the  15th,  his  address  lasting 
an  hour  and  a  half,  and,  according  to  the  report,  *  sel- 
dom equaled  for  sound  reasoning,  cogent  argument 
and  keen  satire.'  Three  cheers  were  given  for  '  the 
Lone  Star  of  Illinois/  on  account  of  his  being  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  285 

only  Whig  member  from  the  State.  He  spoke  at 
Lowell  the  i6th,  and  at  the  Lower  Mills,  Dorchester, 
now  a  part  of  Boston,  on  Monday,  the  i8th.  At  this 
last  place  the  meeting  was  held  in  Richmond  Hall, 
and  the  chairman  was  N.  F.  Safford,  living  till  1891, 
who  introduced  him  as  one  of  the  Lincolns  of  Hing- 
ham,  and  a  descendant  of  Gen.  Benjamin  Lincoln. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  as  he  began,  disclaimed  descent  from 
the  Revolutionary  officer,  but  said,  playfully,  that  he 
had  endeavored  in  Illinois  to  introduce  the  principles 
of  the  Lincolns  of  Massachusetts.  A  few  of  his  audi- 
ence are  still  living.  They  were  struck  with  his  height, 
as  he  arose  in  the  low-studded  hall.  He  spoke  at 
Chelsea  on  the  19th,  and  a  report  states  that  his 
speech  ^  for  aptness  of  illustration,  solidity  of  argu- 
ment, and  genuine  eloquence,  was  hard  to  beat.' 
Charles  Sumner  had  defended  the  Free-Soil  cause  at 
the  same  place  the  evening  before.  Mr.  Lincoln 
spoke  at  Dedham,  in  Temperance  Hall,  on  the  20th, 
in  the  daytime.  Two  Whig  nominating  conventions 
met  there  the  same  day,  at  one  of  which  Horace 
Mann  was  nominated  for  a  second  term  in  Congress. 
A  report  states  that  he  '  spoke  in  an  agreeable  and 
entertaining  way.'  He  left  abruptly  to  take  a  train 
in  order  to  meet  another  engagement,  and  was  es- 
corted to  the  station  by  the  Dorchester  band.  The 
same  evening  he  spoke  at  Cambridge.  The  report 
describes  him  as  '  a  capital  specimen  of  a  Sucker 
Whig,  six  feet  at  least  in  his  stockings.'  Of  his 
speech,  it  was  said  that  ^  it  was  plain,  direct  and  to 
the  point,  powerful  and  convincing,  and  telling  with 
capital  effect  upon  the  immense  audience.     It  was  a 


286  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

model  speech  for  the  campaign/  His  last  speech 
was  on  the  22d,  at  Tremont  Temple,  with  George 
Lunt  presiding,  in  company  with  William  H.  Seward, 
whom  he  followed,  ending  at  10.30  P.  M.  The  Whig 
newspaper,  the  Atlas,  the  next  morning  gave  more 
than  a  column  to  Mr.  Seward's  speech,  but  stated 
that  it  had  no  room  for  the  notes  which  had  been 
taken  of  Mr.  Lincoln's,  describing  it,  however,  as 
^  powerful  and  convincing,  and  cheered  to  the  echo.' 
The  Free-Soil  paper  (Henry  Wilson's)  refers  to  the 
meeting,  mentioning  Mr.  Seward,  but  not  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. The  next  day  Mr.  Lincoln  left  Boston  for 
Illinois.  The  Atlas  on  Monday  contained  this  para- 
graph :  '  In  answer  to  the  many  applications  which 
we  daily  receive  from  different  parts  of  the  State  for 
this  gentleman  to  speak,  we  have  to  say  that  he  left 
Boston  on  Saturday  morning  on  his  way  home  to 
Illinois.' 

It  is  evident  from  all  the  contemporaneous  reports, 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  made  a  marked  impression  on  all  his 
audiences.  Their  attention  was  drawn  at  once  to  his 
striking  figure ;  they  enjoyed  his  quaintness  and 
humor  ;  and  they  recognized  his  logical  power  and 
his  novel  way  of  putting  things.  Still,  so  far  as  his 
points  are  given  in  the  public  journals,  he  did  not 
rise  at  any  time  above  partisanship,  and  he  gave 
no  sign  of  the  great  future  which  awaited  him  as  a 
political  antagonist,  a  master  of  language,  and  a  leader 
of  men.  But  it  should  be  noted,  in  connection  with 
this  estimate,  that  the  Whig  case,  as  put  in  that 
campaign,  was  chiefly  one  of  personalities,  and  was 
limited  to  the  qualities   and   career  of  Taylor   as  a 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  28/ 

soldier,  and  to  ridicule  of  his  opponent,  General  Cass. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  like  the  other  Whig  speakers,  labored 
to  prove  that  Taylor  was  a  Whig. 

Seward's  speech  at  Tremont  Temple,  to  which 
Lincoln  listened,  seems  to  have  started  a  more  seri- 
ous vein  of  thought  on  slavery  in  the  mind  of  the 
future  President.  That  evening,  when  they  were 
together  as  fellow-lodgers  at  a  hotel,  Lincoln  said  : 
**  Governor  Seward,  I  have  been  thinking  about  what 
you  said  in  your  speech.  I  reckon  you  are  right. 
We  have  got  to  deal  with  this  slavery  question,  and 
got  to  give  much  more  attention  to  it  hereafter  than 
we  have  been  doing."  ^ 

It  is  curious  now  to  recall  how  little  support,  in 
the  grave  moments  of  his  national  career  which  came 
twelve  years  later,  Mr.  Lincoln  received  from  the 
Whigs  of  Massachusetts,  then  conspicuous  in  public 
life,  whom  he  met  on  his  visit.  Mr.  Lunt,  who  pre- 
sided at  Faneuil  Hall,  was  to  the  end  of  his  life  a 
pro-slavery  conservative.  Judge  Thomas,  in  Congress, 
during  the  early  part  of  the  civil  war,  was  obstructive 
to  the  President's  policy.  Mr.  Winthrop  voted 
against  Lincoln  in  i860  and  1864.  Mr.  Choate  died 
in  1859,  but,  judged  by  his  latest  utterances,  his  mar- 
velous eloquence  would  have  been  no  patriotic  inspira- 
tion if  he  had  outlived  the  national  struggle.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Free-Soilers  of  Massachusetts, 
whom  Mr.  Lincoln  came  here  to  discredit,  became, 
to  a  man,  his  supporters  ;  and  on  many  of  their  leaders 
he  relied  as  his  support  in  the  great  conflict.     Sumner 

*  Seward's  Life,  vol.  ii,  p.  80. 


288  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

was  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs  during  the  war ;  Wilson  was  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs  ;  Adams  was  Minister 
to  England  ;  and  Andrew  War-Governor  of  the  State. 
These,  as  well  as  Palfrey,  Burlingame  and  Dana,  who, 
in  1848,  almost  every  evening  addressed  audiences 
against  both  Taylor  and  Cass,  while  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
here,  were  earnest  and  steadfast  in  their  devotion  to 
the  Government  during  the  civil  war ;  and  the  last 
three  received  important  appointments  from  him. 
How  the  press  treated  Mr.  Lincoln  may  be  learned 
from  the  following  editorial  in  the  Lowell  Journal 
and  Courier^  in  its  issue  of  September  18,  1848: 

Whig  Meeting. 

The  sterling  Whigs  of  Lowell  came  together  last 
Saturday  evening,  at  the  City  Hall.  The  meeting 
was  called  to  order  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Whig 
Central  Committee,  Hon.  Linus  Child.  Homer  Bart- 
lett,  Esq.,  was  chosen  chairman,  and  A.  Gilman,  secre- 
tary. After  a  few  animating  remarks  from  the 
Chairman,  he  introduced  George  Woodman,  Esq.,  of 
Boston,  who  made  a  very  pertinent  and  witty  off- 
hand speech,  which  was  frequently  interrupted  by  the 
spontaneous  plaudits  of  the  audience.  At  the  close 
of  his  speech  Mr.  Woodman  introduced  the  Hon. 
Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois.  It  would  be  doing 
injustice  to  his  speech  to  endeavor  to  give  a  sketch 
of  it.  It  was  replete  with  good  sense,  sound  reason- 
ing, and  irresistible  argument,  and  spoken  with  that 
perfect  command  of  manner  and  matter  which  so 
eminently  distinguishes  the  Western  orators.  He 
disabused  the  public  of  the  erroneous  suppositions 
that  Taylor  was  not  a  Whig ;  that  Van  Buren  was 
anything  more  than  a  thorough  Loco-foco  on  all  sub- 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


289 


jects  other  than  Free  Territory,  and  hardly  safe  on 
that  ;  and  showed  up,  in  a  masterly  manner,  the  in- 
consistency and  folly  of  those  Whigs,  who,  being 
drawn  off  from  the  true  and  oldest  free-soil  organiza- 
tion known  among  the  parties  of  the  Union,  would 
now  lend  their  influence  and  votes  to  help  Mr.  Van 
Buren  into  the  presidential  chair.  His  speech  was 
interrupted  by  frequent  cheers  of  the  audience.  At 
the  close  the  secretary,  by  request,  read  the  letter 
of  General  Taylor  to  Captain  Alison,  which  had  just 
been  received,  in  which  he  says :  ''  From  the  begin- 
ning till  now,  I  have  declared  myself  to  be  a  Whig, 
on  all  proper  occasions." 

Ex-Governor  Gardner,  after  a  brief  history  of  the 
Whig  Convention  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  contributes 
this  pleasing  reminiscence : 

^^  Gov.  Levi  Lincoln,  the  oldest  living  Ex-Gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts,  resided  in  Worcester.  He 
was  a  man  of  culture  and  wealth  ;  lived  in  one  of  the 
finest  houses  in  that  town,  and  was  a  fine  specimen 
of  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school.  It  was  his  custom 
to  give  a  dinner  party  when  any  distinguished  assem- 
blage took  place  in  Worcester,  and  to  invite  its  promi- 
nent participants.  He  invited  to  dine,  on  this  occa- 
sion, a  company  of  gentlemen,  among  them  myself, 
who  was  a  delegate  from  Boston.  The  dining-room 
and  table  arrangements  were  superb,  the  dinner  ex- 
quisite, the  wines  abundant,  rare,  and  of  the  first 
quality. 

"•  I  well  remember  the  jokes  between  Governor 
Lincoln  and  Abraham  Lincoln  as  to  their  presumed 
relationship.  At  last  the  latter  said  :  *  I  hope  we 
both  belong,  as  the  Scotch  say,  to  the  same  clan ; 


290 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


but  I  know  one  thing,  and  that  is,  that  we  are  both 
good  Whigs/ 

'^That  evening  there  was  held  in  Mechanics*  Hall 
(an  immense  building)  a  mass-meeting  of  delegates 
and  others,  and  Lincoln  was  announced  to  speak.  No 
one  there  had  ever  heard  him  on  the  stump,  and  in 
fact  knew  anything  about  him.  When  he  was  an- 
nounced, his  tall,  angular,  bent  form,  and  his  manifest 
awkwardness  and  low  tone  of  voice,  promised  noth- 
ing interesting.  But  he  soon  warmed  to  his  work. 
His  style  and  manner  of  speaking  were  novelties  in 
the  East.  He  repeated  anecdotes,  told  stories  admi- 
rable in  humor  and  in  point,  interspersed  with  bursts 
of  true  eloquence,  which  constantly  brought  down  the 
house.  His  sarcasm  of  Cass,  Van  Buren  and  the 
Democratic  party  was  inimitable,  and  whenever  he 
attempted  to  stop,  the  shouts  of  '  Go  on !  go  on  ! ' 
were  deafening.  He  probably  spoke  over  an  hour, 
but  so  great  was  the  enthusiasm  time  could  not  be 
measured.  It  was  doubtless  one  of  the  best  efforts 
of  his  life.  He  spoke  a  day  or  two  afterward  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  with  William  H.  Seward,  but  I  did 
not  hear  him. 

"•  In  1861  business  called  me  to  Washington,  and  I 
paid  my  respects  to  the  President  at  the  White  House. 
He  came  forward  smiling  and  with  extended  hand, 
saying :  *  You  and  I  are  no  strangers ;  we  dined  to- 
gether at  Governor  Lincoln's  in  1848.'  When  one 
remembers  the  increased  burden  on  the  President's 
mind  at  this  trying  time,  the  anxieties  of  the  war,  the 
army,  the  currency,  and  the  rehabilitating  the  civil 
officers  of  the  country,  it  seiemed  astonishing  to  me  to 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


291 


hear  him  continue  :  *  Sit  down.  Yes,  I  had  been 
chosen  to  Congress  then  from  the  wild  West,  and 
with  hayseed  in  my  hair  I  went  to  Massachusetts, 
the  most  cultured  State  in  the  Union,  to  take  a  few 
lessons  in  deportment.  That  was  a  grand  dinner — a 
superb  dinner  ;  by  fajr  the  finest  I  ever  saw  in  my  life. 
And  the  great  men  who  were  there,  too  !  Why,  I  can 
tell  you  just  how  they  were  arranged  at  table.*  He 
began  at  one  end,  and  mentioned  the  names  in  order, 
and,  I  verily  believe,  without  the  omission  of  a  sin- 
gle one.'' 

This  chapter  would  be  incomplete  without  the 
account  of  Mr.  George  H.  Monroe,  a  young  man  liv- 
ing in  Dedham,  Mass.,  in  1848,  who,  forty  years  later, 
wrote  out  his  recollections  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  visit  to 
that  town.  Mr.  Monroe  has  a  vivid  and  retentive 
memory,  and  has  since  been  identified  with  the  pub- 
lic life  and  journalism  of  Massachusetts  :  "•  Massachu- 
setts, on  account  of  the  great  defection  of  Whigs  to 
the  Free-Soilers,  and  Daniel  Webster's  sudden  and 
damaging  attitude  toward  General  Taylor's  nomina- 
tion to  the  presidency,  began  to  be  considered  rather 
doubtful  ground  for  the  Whigs.  The  national  com- 
mittee sent  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  State,  after  Congress 
had  adjourned,  to  make  some  speeches.  Our  peo- 
ple knew  very  little  about  him  then.  I  lived  in 
Dedham,  the  shire  town  of  Norfolk  county,  and  was 
secretary  of  a  Whig  club  there.  One  of  the  county 
courts  was  in  session,  and  it  was  determined  to  have 
a  meeting  in  the  daytime,  before  it  adjourned.  I  was 
commissioned  to  go  to  Boston  to  engage  the  speaker. 
I  went  at  once  to  see  my  friend.  Colonel  Schouler,  of 


292 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


the  Boston  Atlas,  He  told  me  that  a  new  man  had 
just  come  into  the  State  from  Washington,  who,  he 
thought,  would  answer  our  purpose  exactly,  and  said 
he  would  get  him  for  me  if  possible.  That  man  was 
Abraham  Lincoln.  When  the  day  for  the  meeting 
came  I  went  to  the  Tremont  House  and  found  Mr. 
Lincoln  there.  I  remember  well  how  tall,  av/kward 
and  ungainly  he  was  in  appearance.  I  remember 
how  reticent  he  was,  too,  but  I  attributed  this  to 
my  own  youth,  for  I  was  only  just  past  twenty-one 
years  of  age.  He  was  as  sober  a  man  in  point  of 
expression  as  ever  I  saw.  There  were  others  in  the 
party  later,  but  in  the  journey  out  in  the  cars  he 
scarcely  said  a  word  to  one  of  us.  I  did  not  see 
him  smile  on  any  part  of  the  journey.  He  seemed 
uneasy  and  out  of  sympathy  with  his  surroundings, 
as  it  were.  I  should  say  that  the  atmosphere  of 
Boston  was  not  congenial  to  him.  We  took  him  to 
one  of  the  most  elegant  houses  in  the  town  of  Ded- 
ham,  and  here  he  seemed  still  less,  if  possible,  at 
home.  The  thing  began  to  look  rather  blue  for  us. 
When  we  went  over  to  the  hall  it  was  not  much  better. 
It  was  a  small  hall,  and  it  was  only  about  half  full ; 
for  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  spoken  in  Boston  yet,  and 
there  was  nothing  in  his  name  particularly  to  attract. 
But  at  last  he  arose  to  speak,  and  almost  instantly 
there  was  a  change.  His  indifferent  manner  vanished 
as  soon  as  he  opened  his  mouth.  He  went  right  to 
his  work.  He  wore  a  black  alpaca  sack,  and  he 
turned  up  the  sleeves  of  this,  and  then  the  cuffs  of 
his  shirt.  Next  he  loosened  his  necktie,  and  soon 
after  he  took  it  off  altogether.     All  the  time  he  was 


THE  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN.  293 

gaining  upon  his  audience.  He  soon  had  it  as  by  a 
spell.  I  never  saw  men  more  delighted.  His  style 
was  the  most  familiar  and  off-hand  possible.  His  eye 
had  lighted  up  and  changed  the  whole  expression  of 
his  countenance.  He  began  to  bubble  out  with  humor. 
But  the  chief  charm  of  the  addfess  lay  in  the  homely 
way  he  made  his  points.  There  was  no  attempt  at 
eloquence  or  finish  of  style.  But,  for  plain  pungency 
of  humor,  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  surpass  his 
speech.  In  this  making  of  points  which  come  home 
to  the  general  mind,  I  don't  think  Lincoln  was  ever 
surpassed  by  any  American  orator.  I  often  thought 
of  it  afterward,  when  he  was  exhibiting  this  faculty  in 
a  more  ambitious  way  on  a  broader  field.  The  speech 
which  I  am  trying  to  describe  was  not  a  long  one. 
It  abruptly  ended  in  a  half-hour's  time.  The  bell  that 
called  to  the  steam  cars  sounded.  Mr.  Lincoln  in-^ 
stantly  stopped.  '  I  am  engaged  to  speak  at  Cam- 
bridge to-night,'  said  he,  '  and  I  must  leave.'  The 
whole  audience  seemed  to  rise  in  protest.  '  Oh,  no  1 
go  on !  finish  it ! '  was  heard  on  every  hand.  One  gen- 
tleman arose  and  pledged  himself  to  take  his  horse 
and  carry  him  across  the  country.  But  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  inexorable.  '  I  can't  take  any  risks,'  said  he. 
'  I  have  engaged  to  go  to  Cambridge,  and  I  must  be 
there.  I  came  here  as  I  agreed,  and  I  am  going  there 
in  the  same  way.'  A  more  disappointed  audience 
was  never  seen;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  had  fairly  wakened 
it  up,  and  it  stayed  through  the  afternoon  and  into 
the  evening  to  listen  to  other  speakers.  We  tried  to 
get  him  to  come  again,  but  it  was  impossible.  I 
heard    the    speech    finished    afterward    in    Tremont 


2Q4  THE  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN. 

Temple,  Boston;  and  it  is  a  notable  fact  that  on  the 
same  evening,  and  from  the  same  platform,  William  H. 
Seward  also  spoke,  and  made  the  only  political  speech 
he  ever  delivered  in  Boston.  Who  could  have  dreamed 
then  that  in  Lincoln  we  were  listening  to  the  man  who 
was  to  be  the  future'  president  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  leave  a  reputation  second  only  to  that  of 
Washington!  Mr.  Lincoln  moved  his  Boston  audi- 
ence in  much  the  same  way  I  have  described,  but 
Mr.  Seward  made  the  first  speech,  and  was  looked 
upon  as  the  chief  star,  of  course.  Seward's  speech 
was  much  more  ambitious  and  comprehensive  than 
that  of  Lincoln.  The  latter  had  not  begun  to  treat 
broad  principles  in  the  1848  campaign.  Mr.  Seward's 
argument  was  a  triumph  of  intellect,  after  the  most 
careful  preparation.  I  don't  think  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
ever  written  his  speech  at  all.  He  aimed  at  not  much 
more  than  to  be  bright,  effective  and  taking  with  his 
audience,  and  his  success  was  perfect  here." 


CHAPTER  XL 

After  the  wedding  of  Lincoln  and  Miss  Todd  at 
the  Edwards  mansion  we  hear  but  Httle  of  them  as 
a  married  couple  till  the  spring  of  1843,  when  the 
husband  writes  to  his  friend  Speed,  who  had  been 
joined  to  his  ''  black-eyed  Fanny  "  a  little  over  a  year, 
with  regard  to  his  life  as  a  married  man.  '^  Are  you 
possessing  houses  and  lands,''  he  writes,  "  and  oxen 
and  asses  and  men-servants  and  maid-servants,  and 
begetting  sons  and  daughters?  We  are  not  keep- 
ing house,  but  boarding  at  the  Globe  Tavern,  which 
is  very  well  kept  now  by  a  widow  lady  of  the  name 
of  Beck.  Our  room  (the  same  Dr.  Wallace  occupied 
there)  and  boarding  only  costs  us  four  dollars  a 
week."  Gaining  a  livelihood  was  slow  and  discour- 
aging business  with  him,  for  we  find  him  in  another 
letter  apologizing  for  his  failure  to  visit  Kentucky, 
"  because,"  he  says,  *^  I  am  so  poor  and  make  so  lit- 
tle headway  in  the  world  that  I  drop  back  in  a 
month  of  idleness  as  much  as  I  gain  in  a  year's  sow- 
ing." But  by  dint  of  untiring  efforts  and  the  recog- 
nition of  influential  friends  he  managed  through 
rare  frugality  to  move  along.  In  his  struggles,  both 
in  the  law  and  for  political  advancement,  his  wife 
shared  in  his  sacrifices.  She  was  a  plucky  little 
woman,   and  in  fact  endowed  with  a  more  restless 

295 


296 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


ambition  than  he.  She  was  gifted  with  a  rare 
insight  into  the  motives  that  actuate  mankind,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  much  of  Lincoln's  success 
was  in  a  measure  attributable  to  her  acuteness  and 
the  stimulus  of  her  influence.  His  election  to  Con- 
gress within  four  years  after  their  marriage  afforded 
her  extreme  gratification.  She  loved  power  and 
prominence,  and  when  occasionally  she  came  down 
to  our  office,  it  seemed  to  me  then  that  she  was 
inordinately  proud  of  her  tall  and  ungainly  husband. 
She  saw  in  him  bright  prospects  ahead,  and  his  every 
move  was  watched  by  her  with  the  closest  interest. 
If  to  other  persons  he  seemed  homely,  to  her  he 
was  the  embodiment  of  noble  manhood,  and  each 
succeeding  day  impressed  upon  her  the  wisdom  of 
her  choice  of  Lincoln  over  Douglas — if  in  reality 
she  ever  seriously  accepted  the  latter's  attentions. 
"  Mr.  Lincoln  may  not  be  as  handsome  a  figure,'' 
she  said  one  day  in  the  office  during  her  husband's 
absence,  when  the  conversation  turned  on  Douglas, 
"  but  the  people  are  perhaps  not  aware  that  his 
heart  is  as  large  as  his  arms  are  long." 

Mrs.  Lincoln  accompanied  her  husband  to  Wash- 
ington and  remained  during  one  session  of  Congress. 
While  there  they  boarded  at  the  same  house  with 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  and  when  in  1856  the  valiant 
old  Abolitionist  came  to  take  part  in  the  canvass 
in  Illinois,  he  early  sought  out  Lincoln,  with  whom 
he  had  been  so  favorably  impressed  several  years 
before.  On  his  way  home  from  Congress  Lincoln 
came  by  way  of  Niagara  Falls  and  down  Lake  Erie 
to  Toledo  or  Detroit.    It  happened  that,  some  time 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


297 


after,  I  went  to  New  York  and  also  returned  by  way 
of  Niagara  Falls.  In  the  office,  a  few  days  after  my 
return,  I  was  endeavoring  to  entertain  my  partner 
with  an  account  of  my  trip,  and  among  other  things 
described  the  Falls.  In  the  attempt  I  indulged  in 
a  good  deal  of  imagery.  As  I  warmed  up  with  the 
subject  my  descriptive  powers  expanded  accord- 
ingly. The  mad  rush  of  water,  the  roar,  the  rapids, 
and  the  rainbow  furnished  me  with  an  abundance 
of  material  for  a  stirring  and  impressive  picture. 
The  recollection  of  the  gigantic  and  awe-inspiring 
scene  stimulated  my  exuberant  powers  to  the  high- 
est pitch.  After  w^ell-nigh  exhausting  myself  in  the 
effort  I  turned  to  Lincoln  for  his  opinion.  ''  What," 
I  inquired,  ''  made  the  deepest  impression  on  you 
when  you  stood  in  the  presence  of  the  great  natural 
wonder?"  I  shall  never  forget  his  answer,  because 
it  in  a  very  characteristic  way  illustrates  how  he 
looked  at  everything.  '*  The  thing  that  struck  me 
most  forcibly  when  I  saw  the  Falls,"  he  responded, 
''  was,  where  in  the  world  did  all  that  water  come 
from  ?  "  He  had  no  eye  for  the  magnificence  and 
grandeur  of  the  scene,  for  the  rapids,  the  mist,  the 
angry  waters,  and  the  roar  of  the  whirlpool,  but  his 
mind,  working  in  its  accustomed  channel,  heedless 
of  beauty  or  awe,  followed  irresistibly  back  to  the 
first  cause.  It  was  in  this  light  he  viewed  every 
question.  However  great  the  verbal  foliage  that 
concealed  the  nakedness  of  a  good  idea  Lincoln 
stripped  it  all  down  till  he  could  see  clear  the  way 
between  cause  and  effect.  If  there  was  any  secret 
in  his  power  this  surely  was  it. 


298 


THE  LIFE  OF   LINCOLN, 


After  seeing  Niagara  Falls  he  continued  his  jour- 
ney homeward.  At  some  point  on  the  way,  the 
vessel  on  which  he  had  taken  passage  stranded 
on  a  sand  bar.  The  captain  ordered  the  hands  to 
collect  all  the  loose  planks,  empty  barrels  and  boxe!^ 
and  force  them  under  the  sides  of  the  boat.  These 
empty  casks  were  used  to  buoy  it  up.  After  for- 
cing enough  of  them  under  the  vessel  she  lifted 
gradually  and  at  last  swung  clear  of  the  opposing 
sand  bar.  Lincoln  had  watched  this  operation  very 
intently.  It  no  doubt  carried  him  back  to  the 
days  of  his  navigation  on  the  turbulent  Sangamon, 
when  he  and  John  Hanks  had  rendered  similar  ser- 
vice at  New  Salem  dam  to  their  employer,  the 
volatile  Offut.  Continual  thinking  on  the  subject 
of  lifting  vessels  over  sand  bars  and  other  obstruc- 
tions in  the  water  suggested  to  him^  the  idea  of 
inventing  an  apparatus  for  that  purpose.  Using 
the  principle  involved  in  the  operation  he  had  just 
witnessed,  his  plan  was  to  attach  a  kind  of  bellows 
on  each  side  of  the  hull  of  the  craft  just  below  the 
water  line,  and,  by  an  odd  system  of  ropes  and  pul- 
leys, whenever  the  keel  grated  on  the  sand  these 
bellows  were  to  be  filled  with  air,  and  thus  buoyed 
up,  the  vessel  was  expected  to  float  clear  of  the 
shoal.  On  reaching  home  he  at  once  set  to  work 
to  demonstrate  the  feasibility  of  his  plan.  Walter 
Davis,  a  mechanic  having  a  shop  near  our  office, 
granted  him  the  use  of  his  tools,  and  likewise  assisted 
him  in  making  the  model  of  a  miniature  vessel  with 
the  arrangement  as  above  described.  Lincoln  man- 
ifested ardent  interest  in  it.    Occasionally  he  would 


THE  LIFE   OF  LINCOLN.  299 

bring  the  model  in  the  office,  and  while  whittling  on 
it  would  descant  on  its  merits  and  the  revolution 
it  was  destined  to  work  in  steamboat  navigation. 
Although  I  regarded  the  thing  as  impracticable  I 
said  nothing,  probably  out  of  respect  for  Lincoln's 
well-known  reputation  as  a  boatman.  The  model 
was  sent  or  taken  by  him  to  Washington,  where  a 
patent  was  issued,  but  the  invention  was  never 
applied  to  any  vessel,  so  far  as  I  ever  learned,  and 
the  threatened  revolution  in  steamboat  architecture 
and  navigation  never  came  to  pass.  The  model 
still  reposes  in  undisturbed  slumber  on  the  shelves 
in  the  Patent  Office,  and  is  the  only  evidence  now 
existing  of  Lincoln's  success  as  an  inventor.* 

Shortly  before  the  close  of  his  term  in  Congress 
he  appears  in  a  new  role.  Having  failed  of  a  re- 
election he  became  an  applicant  for  the  office  of 
Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office.  He  had 
been  urged  to  this  step  by  many  of  his  Whig  friends 
in  Illinois,  but  he  was  so  hedged  about  with  other 

*  Following  is  a  copy  of  Lincoln's  application  for  the  patent  on 
his  ''Improved  Method  of  Lifting  Vessels  Over  Shoals":  ''What  I 
claim  as  my  invention,  and  desire  to  secure  by  letters  patent,  is  the 
combination  of  expansible  buoyant  chambers  placed  at  the  sides  of 
a  vessel  mth  the  main  shaft  or  shafts  by  means  of  the  sliding  spars, 
which  pass  down  through  the  buoyant  chambers  and  are  made  fast  to 
their  bottoms  and  the  series  of  ropes  and  pulleys  or  their  equiva- 
lents in  such  a  manner  that  by  turning  the  main  shaft  or  shafts  in 
one  direction  the  buoyant  chambers  will  be  forced  downwards  into 
the  water,  and  at  the  same  time  expanded  and  filled  with  air  for 
buoying  up  the  vessel  by  the  displacement  of  w^ater,  and  by  turning 
the  shafts  in  an  opposite  direction  the  buoyant  chambers  will  be  con- 
tracted into  a  small  space  and  secured  against  injury. 

"A.  Lincoln.*' 


300 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


aspirants  from  his  own  State  that  he  soon  lost  all 
heart  in  the  contest.  He  was  too  scrupulous,  and 
lacked  too  much  the  essentials  of  self-confidence  and 
persistence,  to  be  a  successful  suitor  for  office.  In  a 
letter  to  Joshua  Speed,  who  had  written  him  of  a 
favorable  reference  to  him  by  Mr.  Crittenden,  of 
Kentucky,'''  he  says,  February  20,  1849,  "  I  ^^n 
flattered  to  learn  that  Mr.  Crittenden  has  any  recol- 
lection of  me  which  is  not  unfavorable ;  and  for  the 
manifestation  of  your  kindness  towards  me  I  sin- 
cerely thank  you.  Still,  there  is  nothing  about  me 
to  authorize  me  to  think  of  a  first-class  office,  and  a 
second-class  one  would  not  compensate  me  for  being 
sneered  at  by  others  who  want  it  for  themselves.  I 
believe  that,  so  far  as  the  Whigs  in  Congress  are 
concerned,  I  could  have  the  General  Land  Office 
almost  by  common  consent;  but  then  Sweet  and 
Dav.  Morrison  and  Browning  and  Cyrus  Edwards 
all  want  it,  and  what  is  worse,  while  I  think  I  could 
easily  take  it  myself  I  fear  I  shall  have  trouble  to 
get  it  for  any  other  man  in  Illinois.  The  reason  is 
that  McGaughey,  an  Indiana  ex-member  of  Con- 
gress, is  here  after  it,  and  being  personally  known  he 
will  be  hard  to  beat  by  any  one  who  is  not.''  But,  as 
the  sequel  proved,  there  w^as  no  need  to  fear  the 

*  Lincoln  had  asked  Speed  to  see  Crittenden  (then  Governor  of 
Kentucky)  and  secure  from  the  latter  a  recommendation  for  Baker, 
who  wanted  a  first-class  foreign  mission.  Crittenden  did  not 
approve  of  Baker,  but  suggested  that  he  would  favor  Lincoln,  whom 
he  regarded  as  a  rising  man.  Speed  suggested  to  Lincoln  to  apply 
for  the  place  himself.  *'I  have  pledged  myself  to  Baker,"  he 
answered,  "and  cannot  under  any  circumstances  consent  to  the  use 
of  my  name  so  long  as  he  is  urged  for  the  same  place." 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


301 


Hoosier  statesman,  for  although  he  had  the  endorse- 
ment of  General  Scott  and  others  of  equal  influence, 
yet  he  was  left  far  behind  in  the  race,  and  along 
with  him  Lincoln,  Morrison,  Browning,  and  Ed- 
wards. A  dark  horse  in  the  person  of  Justin  Butter- 
field,  sprang  into  view,  and  with  surprising  facility- 
captured  the  tempting  prize.  This  latter  and  suc- 
cessful aspirant  was  a  lawyer  of  rather  extensive 
practice  and  reputation  in  Chicago.  He  was  shrewd, 
adroit,  and  gifted  with  a  knowledge  of  what  politi- 
cians would  call  good  management — a  quality  or 
characteristic  in  which  Lincoln  was  strikingly  defi- 
cient. He  had  endorsed  the  Mexican  war,  but, 
strangely  enough,  had  lost  none  of  his  prestige  with 
the  Whigs  on  that  account.* 

The  close  of  Congress  and  the  inauguration  of 
Taylor  were  the  signal  for  Lincoln's  departure  from 
Washington.     He  left  with  the  comforting  assur- 


*  The  following  letter  by  Butterfield's  daughter  is  not  without 
interest: 

"Chicago,   Oct.   12th,   1888. 
"  Mr.  Jesse  W.  Weik. 
''Dear  Sir: 
**My  father  was  born  in  Keene,  N.  H.,  in  1790,  entered  Williams 
College,  1807,  and  removed  to  Chicago  in  1835.     After  the  re-acces- 
sion of  the  Whigs  to  power  he  was  on  the  21st  of  June  in  1849  ap- 
pointed Commissioner  of  the  Land  Office  by  President  Taylor.     A 
competitor  for  the  position  at  that  time  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  who 
was  beaten,  it  was  said,  by  *the  superior  dispatch  of  Butterfield  in 
reaching  Washington  by  the  Northern  route,'  but  more  correctly  by 
the  paramount  influence  of  his  friend  Daniel  Webster. 

''He  held  the  position  of  Land  Commissioner  until  disabled  by 
paralysis  in  1852.  After  lingering  for  three  years  in  a  disabled  and 
enfeebled  condition,  he  died  at  his  home  in  Chicago,  October  23d, 
1855,  in  his  sixty-third  year. 

"Very  respectfully, 

"Elizabeth  Sawyer." 


202  THE  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN, 

ance  that  as  an  office-seeker  he  was  by  no  means  a 
success.  Besides  his  lack  of  persistence,  he  had  an 
unconscious  feeling  of  superiority  and  pride  that 
admitted  of  no  such  flexibility  of  opinion  as  the 
professional  suitor  for  office  must  have,  in  order  to 
succeed.  He  remained  but  a  few  days  at  his  home 
in  Illinois,  however,  before  he  again  set  out  for 
Washington.  The  administration  of  President 
Taylor  feeling  that  some  reward  was  due  Lincoln 
for  his  heroic  efforts  on  the  stump  and  elsewhere 
in  behalf  of  the  Whig  party  and  its  measures,  had 
offered  him  the  office  of  either  Governor  or  Secre- 
tary of  Oregon,  and  with  the  view  of  considering 
this  and  other  offers  he  returned  to  Washington. 
Lincoln  used  to  relate  of  this  last-named  journey 
an  amusing  incident  illustrating  Kentucky  hospi- 
tality. He  set  out  from  Ransdell's  tavern  in 
Springfield,  early  in  the  morning.  The  only  other 
passenger  in  the  stage  for  a  good  portion  of  the 
distance  was  a  Kentuckian,  on  his  way  home  from 
Missouri.  The  latter,  painfully  impressed  no  doubt 
with  Lincoln's  gravity  and  melancholy,  undertook 
to  relieve  the  general  monotony  of  the  ride  by 
offering  him  a  chew  of  tobacco.  With  a  plain  ''  No, 
sir,  thank  you ;  I  never  chew,''  Lincoln  declined, 
and  a  long  period  of  silence  followed.  Later  in 
the  day  the  stranger,  pulling  from  his  pocket  a 
leather-covered  case,  offered  Lincoln  a  cigar,  which 
he  also  politely  declined  on  the  ground  that  he 
never  smoked.  Finally,  as  they  neared  the  station 
where  horses  were  to  be  changed,  the  Kentuckian, 
pouring  out  a  cup  of  brandy  from  a  flask  which  had 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN,  303 

lain  concealed  in  his  satchel,  offered  it  to  Lincoln 
with  the  remark,  "  Well,  stranger,  seeing  you  don't 
smoke  or  chew,  perhaps  you'll  take  a  little  of  this 
French  brandy.  It's  a  prime  article  and  a  good 
appetizer  besides."  His  tall  and  uncommunicative 
companion  declined  this  last  and  best  evidence  of 
Kentucky  hospitality  on  the  same  ground  as  the 
tobacco.  When  they  separated  that  afternoon,  the 
Kentuckian,  transferring  to  another  stage,  bound  for 
Louisville,  shook  Lincoln  warmly  by  the  hand. 
**  See  here,  stranger,"  he  said,  good-humoredly, 
*'  you're  a  clever,  but  strange  companion.  I  may 
never  see  you  again,  and  I  don't  want  to  offend 
you,  but  I   want  to  say  this :   my   experience  has 

taught  me  that  a  man  who  has  no  vices  has  d d 

few  virtues.  Good-day."  Lincoln  enjoyed  this 
reminiscence  of  the  journey,  and  took  great  pleas- 
ure in  relating  it.  During  this  same  journey  oc- 
curred an  incident  for  which  Thomas  H.  Nelson,  of 
Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  who  was  appointed  Minister 
to  Chili  by  Lincoln,  when  he  was  President,  is- 
authority.  ''  In  the  spring  of  1849,"  relates  Nel- 
son, ''  Judge  Abram  Hammond,  who  was  after- 
wards Governor  of  Indiana,  and  I  arranged  to  go 
from  Terre  Haute  to  Indianapolis  in  the  stage 
coach.  An  entire  day  was  usually  consumed  in  the 
journey.  By  daybreak  the  stage  had  arrived  from 
the  West,  and  as  we  stepped  in  we  discovered  that 
the  entire  back  seat  was  occupied  by  a  long,  lank 
individual,  whose  head  seemed  to  protrude  from 
one  end  of  the  coach  and  his  feet  from  the  other. 
He    was    the    sole    occupant,    and    was    sleeping 


204  ^^^  ^^^^   OF  LINCOLN, 

soundly.  Hammond  slapped  him  familiarly  on  the 
shoulder,  and  asked  him  if  he  had  chartered  the 
stage  for  the  day.  The  stranger,  now  wide  awake, 
responded,  '  Certainly  not,'  and  at  once  took  the 
front  seat,  politely  surrendering  to  us  the  place  of 
honor  and  comfort.  We  took  in  our  travelling 
companion  at  a  glance.  A  queer,  odd-looking  fel- 
low he  was,  dressed  in  a  well-worn  and  ill-fitting 
suit  of  bombazine,  without  vest  or  cravat,  and  a 
twenty-five-cent  palm  hat  on  the  back  of  his  head. 
His  very  prominent  features  in  repose  seemed  dull 
and  expressionless.  Regarding  him  as  a  good  sub- 
ject for  merriment  we  perpetrated  several  jokes. 
He  took  them  all  with  the  utmost  innocence  and 
good-nature,  and  joined  in  the  laugh,  although  at 
his  own  expense.  At  noon  we  stopped  at  a  way- 
side hostelry  for  dinner.  We  invited  him  to  eat 
with  us,  and  he  approached  the  table  as  if  he  con- 
sidered it  a  great  honor.  He  sat  with  about  half 
his  person  on  a  small  chair,  and  held  his  hat  under 
his  arm  during  the  meal.  Resuming  our  journey 
after  dinner,  conversation  drifted  into  a  discussion 
of  the  comet,  a  subject  that  was  then  agitating 
the  scientific  world,  in  which  the  stranger  took 
the  deepest  interest.  He  made  many  startling 
suggestions  and  asked  many  questions.  We 
amazed  him  with  words  of  learned  length  and 
thundering  sound.  After  an  astounding  display  of 
wordy  pyrotechnics  the  dazed  and  bewildered 
stranger  asked :  '  What  is  going  to  be  the  up- 
shot of  this  comet  business?'  I  replied  that  I 
was  not  certain,  in  fact  I  differed  from  most  scien- 


THE   LIFE   OF   LINCOLN. 


305 


tists  and  philosophers,  and  was  inclined  to  the 
opinion  that  the  world  would  follow  the  darned 
thing  off !  Late  in  the  evening  we  reached  Indian- 
apolis, and  hurried  to  Browning's  hotel,  losing 
sight  of  the  stranger  altogether.  We  retired  to 
our  room  to  brush  and  wash  away  the  dust  of  the 
journey.  In  a  few  minutes  I  descended  to  the 
portico,  and  there  descried  our  long,  gloomy  fellow- 
traveller  in  the  center  of  an  admiring  group  of 
lawyers,  among  whom  were  Judges  McLean  and 
Huntington,  Edward  Hannigan,  Albert  S.  White, 
and  Richard  W.  Thompson,  who  seemed  to  be 
amused  and  interested  in  a  story  he  was  telling. 
I  enquired  of  Browning,  the  landlord,  who  he  was. 
"  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  a  member  of  Con- 
gress,'' was  the  response.  I  was  thunderstruck  at 
the  announcement.  I  hastened  upstairs  and  told 
Hammond  the  startling  news,  and  together  we 
emerged  from  the  hotel  by  a  back  door  and  went 
down  an  alley  to  another  house,  thus  avoiding  fur- 
ther contact  with  our  now  distinguished  fellow- 
traveller.  Curiously  enough,  years  after  this,  Ham- 
mond had  vacated  the  office  of  Governor  of  Indi- 
ana a  few  days  before  Lincoln  arrived  in  Indianap- 
olis, on  his  way  to  Washington  to  be  inaugurated 
President.  I  had  many  opportunities  after  the 
stage  ride  to  cultivate  Mr.  Lincoln's  acquaintance, 
and  was  a  zealous  advocate  of  his  nomination  and 
election  to  the  Presidency.  Before  leaving  his 
home  for  Washington,  Mr.  Lincoln  caused  John  P. 
Usher  and  myself  to  be  invited  to  accompany  him. 
We  agreed  to  join  him  in  Indianapolis.    On  reach- 


3o6  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

ing  that  city  the  Presidential  party  had  already 
arrived,  and  upon  inquiry  we  were  informed  that 
the  President-elect  was  in  the  dining-room  of  the 
hotel,  at  supper.  Passing  through,  we  saw  that 
every  seat  at  the  numerous  tables  was  occupied, 
but  failed  to  find  Mr.  Lincoln.  As  we  were  near- 
ing  the  door  to  the  office  of  the  hotel,  a  long  arm 
reached  to  my  shoulder  and  a  shrill  voice  ex- 
claimed, '  Hello,  Nelson !  do  you  think,  after  all, 
the  world  is  going  to  follow  the  darned  thing  off? ' 
It  was  Mr.  Lincoln." 

The  benefits  and  advantages  of  the  territorial 
posts  offered  by  President  Taylor  to  Lincoln  were 
freely  discussed  by  the  latter's  friends.  Some  urged 
his  acceptance  on  the  usual  ground  that  when  Ore- 
gon was  admitted  as  a  State,  he  might  be  its  first 
Senator.  Lincoln  himself  had  some  inclination  to 
accept.  ^He  told  me  himself  that  he  felt  by  his 
course  in  Congress  he  had  committed  political  sui- 
cide, and  wanted  to  try  a  change  of  locality— hence 
the  temptation  to  go  to  Oregon.  But  when  he 
brought  the  proposition  home  to  his  fireside,  his 
wife  put  her  foot  squarely  down  on  it  with  a  firm 
and  emphatic  No.  That  always  ended  it  with 
Lincoln.  The  result  of  the  whole  thing  proved 
a  fortunate  deliverance  for  him,  the  propriety  of 
which  became  more  apparent  as  the  years  rolled 
by.* 

*  About  this  time  Grant  Goodrich,  a  lawyer  in  Chicago,  proposed 
to  take  Lincoln  into  partnership  with  him.  Goodrich  had  an  exten- 
sive and  paying  practice  there,  but  Lincoln  refused  the  offer,  giving 
as  a  reason  that  he  tended  to  consumption,  and,  if  he  removed  to  a 


THE   LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  307 

While  a  member  of  Congress  and  otherwise 
immersed  in  politics  Lincoln  seemed  to  lose  all 
interest  in  the  law.  Of  course,  what  practice  he 
himself  controlled  passed  into  other  hands.  I 
retained  all  the  business  I  could,  and  worked  stead- 
ily on  until,  when  he  returned,  our  practice  was  as 
extensive  as  that  of  any  other  firm  at  the  bar. 
Lincoln  realized  that  much  of  this  was  due  to  my 
efforts,  and  on  his  return  he  therefore  suggested 
that  he  had  no  right  to  share  in  the  business  and 
profits  which  I  had  made.  I  responded  that,  as  he 
had  aided  me  and  given  me  prominence  when  I  was 
young  and  needed  it,  I  could  aft'ord  now  to  be 
grateful  if  not  generous.  I  therefore  recommended 
a  continuation  of  the  partnership,  and  we  went  on 
as  before.  I  could  notice  a  difference  in  Lincoln's 
movement  as  a  lawyer  from  this  time  forward.  He 
had  begun  to  realize  a  certain  lack  of  discipline — a 
want  of  mental  training  and  method.  Ten  years  had 
wrought  some  change  in  the  law,  and  more  in  the 
lawyers,  of  Illinois.  The  conviction  had  settled  in 
the  minds  of  the  people  that  the  pyrotechnics  of 
court  room  and  stump  oratory  did  not  necessarily 
imply  extensive  or  profound  ability  in  the  lawyer 
who  resorted  to  it.  The  courts  were  becoming 
graver  and  more  learned,  and  the  lawyer  was  learn- 
ing as  a  preliminary  and  indispensable  condition  to 

city  like  Chicago,  he  would  have  to  sit  down  and  study  harder  than 
ever.  The  close  application  required  of  him  and  the  confinement 
in  the  office,  he  contended,  would  soon  kill  him.  He  preferred  going 
around  on  the  circuit,  and  even  if  he  earned  smaller  fees  he  felt 
much  happier. 


3o8 


THE  LIFE   OF  LINCOLN. 


success  that  he  must  be  a  close  reasoner,  besides 
having  at  command  a  broad  knowledge  of  the 
principles  on  which  the  statutory  law  is  con- 
structed. There  was  of  course  the  same  riding  on 
circuit  as  before,  but  the  courts  had  improved  in 
tone  and  morals,  and  there  was  less  laxity — at  least 
it  appeared  so  to  Lincoln.  Political  defeat  had 
wrought  a  marked  effect  on  him.  It  went  below 
the  skin  and  made  a  changed  man  of  him.  He  was 
not  soured  at  his  seeming  political  decline,  but 
still  he  determined  to  eschew  politics  from  that 
time  forward  and  devote  himself  entirely  to  the 
law.  And  now  he  began  to  make  up  for  time  lost 
in  politics  by  studying  the  law  in  earnest.  No 
man  had  greater  power  of  application  than  he. 
Once  fixing  his  mind  on  any  subject,  nothing  could 
interfere  with  or  disturb  him.  Frequently  I  would 
go  out  on  the  circuit  with  him.  We,  usually,  at 
the  little  country  inns  occupied  the  same  bed.  In 
most  cases  the  beds  were  too  short  for  him,  and  his 
feet  would  hang  over  the  foot-board,  thus  expos- 
ing a  limited  expanse  of  shin  bone.  Placing  a 
candle  on  a  chair  at  the  head  of  the  bed,  he  would 
read  and  study  for  hours.  I  have  known  him  to 
study  in  this  position  till  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. Meanwhile,  I  and  others  who  chanced  to 
occupy  the  same  room  would  be  safely  and  soundly 
asleep.  On  the  circuit  in  this  way  he  studied 
Euclid  until  he  could  .with  ease  demonstrate  all  the 
propositions  in  the  six  books.  How  he  could  main- 
tain his  mental  equilibrium  or  concentrate  his 
thoughts  on  an  abstract  mathematical  proposition, 


THE  LIFE  OF   LINCOLN.  309 

while  Davis,  Logan,  Swett,  Edwards,  and  I  so  in- 
dustriously and  volubly  filled  the  air  with  our 
interminable  snoring  was  a  problem  none  of  us 
could  ever  solve.  I  was  on  the  circuit  with  Lin- 
coln probably  one-fourth  of  the  time.  The  remain- 
der of  my  time  was  spent  in  Springfield  looking 
after  the  business  there,  but  I  know  that  life  on  the 
circuit  was  a  gay  one.  It  was  rich  with  incidents, 
and  afforded  the  nomadic  lawyers  ample  relaxation 
from  all  the  irksome  toil  that  fell  to  their  lot. 
Lincoln  loved  it.  I  suppose  it  would  be  a  fair 
estimate  to  state  that  he  spent  over  half  the  year 
following  Judges  Treat  and  Davis  around  on  the 
circuit.  On  Saturdays  the  court  and  attorneys,  if 
within  a  reasonable  distance,  would  usually  start 
for  their  homes.  Some  went  for  a  fresh  supply  of 
clothing,  but  the  greater  number  went  simply  to 
spend  a  day  of  rest  with  their  families.  The  only 
exception  was  Lincoln,  who  usually  spent  his  Sun- 
days with  the  loungers  at  the  country  tavern,  and 
only  went  home  at  the  end  of  the  circuit  or  term  of 
court.  ''  At  first,"  *  relates  one  of  his  colleagues 
on  the  circuit,  "  we  wondered  at  it,  but  soon  learned 
to  account  for  his  strange  disinclination  to  go 
home.  Lincoln  himself  never  had  much  to  say 
about  home,  and  we  never  felt  free  to  comment  on 
it.  Most  of  us  had  pleasant,  inviting  homes,  and  as 
we  struck  out  for  them  Tm  sure  each  one  of  us  down 
in  our  hearts  had  a  mingled  feeling  of  pity  and  sym- 
pathy for  him.''     If  the  day  was  long  and  he  was 

*  David  Davis,  MS. 


3IO  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

oppressed,  the  feeling  was  soon  relieved  by  the  nar- 
ration of  a  story.  The  tavern  loungers  enjoyed  it, 
and  his  melancholy,  taking  to  itself  wings,  seemed 
to  fly  away.  In  the  role  of  a  story-teller  I  am 
prone  to  regard  Mr.  Lincoln  as  without  an  equal. 
I  have  seen  him  surrounded  by  a  crowd  numbering 
as  many  as  two  and  in  some  cases  three  hundred 
persons,  all  deeply  interested  in  the  outcome  of  a 
story  which,  when  he  had  finished  it,  speedily 
found  repetition  in  every  grocery  and  lounging 
place  within  reach.  His  power  of  mimicry,  as  I 
have  before  noted,  and  his  manner  of  recital,  were 
in  many  respects  unique,  if  not  remarkable.  His 
countenance  and  all  his  features  seemed  to  take 
part  in  the  performance.  As  he  neared  the  pith  or 
point  of  the  joke  or  story  every  vestige  of  serious- 
ness disappeared  from  his  face.  His  little  gray 
eyes  sparkled;  a  smile  seemed  to  gather  up,  cur- 
tain like,  the  corners  of  his  mouth ;  his  frame  quiv- 
ered with  suppressed  excitement;  and  when  the 
point — or  '^  nub  ''  of  the  story,  as  he  called  it — came, 
no  one's  laugh  was  heartier  than  his.  These  back- 
woods allegories  are  out  of  date  now,  and  any 
lawyer,  ambitious  to  gain  prominence,  would  hardly 
dare  thus  to  entertain  a  crowd,  except  at  the  risk 
of  his  reputation ;  but  with  Lincoln  it  gave  him,  in 
some  mysterious  way,  a  singularly  firm  hold  on  the 
people. 

Lincoln  was  particularly  strong  in  Menard  county, 
and  while  on  the  circuit  there  he  met  with  William 
Engle  and  James  Murray,  two  men  who  were 
noted    also    for    their    story-telling    proclivities.      I 


THE   LIFE   OF  LINCOLN,  ^II 

am  not  now  asserting  for  the  country  and  the 
period  what  would  at  a  later  day  be  considered  a 
very  high  standard  of  taste.  Art  had  not  such 
patrons  as  to-day,  but  the  people  loved  the  beau- 
tiful as  Nature  furnished  it,  and  the  good  as  they 
found  it,  with  as  much  devotion  as  the  more 
refined  classes  now  are  joined  to  their  idols.  News- 
papers were  scarce,  and  the  court-house,  with  its 
cluster  of  itinerant  lawyers,  disseminated  much  of 
the  information  that  was  afterwards  broken  up  into 
smaller  bits  at  the  pioneer's  fireside.  A  curious 
civilization  indeed,  but  one  through  which  every 
Western  State  distant  from  the  great  arterial  river 
or  seaboard  has  had  to  pass. 

When  Lincoln,  Murray,  and  Engle  met,  there  was 
sure  to  be  a  crowd.  All  were  more  or  less  masters 
in  their  art.  I  have  seen  the  little  country  tavern 
where  these  three  were  wont  to  meet  after  an  ad- 
journment of  court,  crowded  almost  to  suffocation 
with  an  audience  of  men  who  had  gathered  to  wit- 
ness the  contest  among  the  members  of  the  strange 
triumvirate.  The  physician  of  the  town,  all  the  law- 
yers, and  not  unfrequently  a  preacher  could  be  found 
in  the  crowd  that  filled  the  doors  and  windows.  The 
yarns  they  spun  and  the  stories  they  told  would  not 
bear  repetition  here,  but  many  of  them  had  morals 
which,  while  exposing  the  weaknesses  of  mankind, 
stung  like  a  whip-lash.  Some  were  no  doubt  a  thou- 
sand years  old,  with  just  enough  ''  verbal  varnish '' 
and  alterations  of  names  and  dates  to  make  them 
new  and  crisp.  By  virtue  of  the  last-named  applica- 
tion, Lincoln  was  enabled  to  draw  from  Balzac  a 


312  THE  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN. 

''  droll  story,"  and  locating  it  in  "  Egypt ''  *  or  in 
Indiana,  pass  it  off  for  a  purely  original  conception. 
Every  recital  was  followed  by  its  ''  storm  of  laughter 
and  chorus  of  cheers/'  After  this  had  all  died  down, 
some  unfortunate  creature,  through  whose  thickened 
skull  the  point  had  just  penetrated,  would  break 
out  in  a  guffaw,  starting  another  wave  of  laughter 
which,  growing  to  the  proportions  of  a  billow, 
would  come  rolling  in  like  a  veritable  breaker.  I 
have  known  these  story-telling  jousts  to  continue 
long  after  midnight — in  some  cases  till  the  very 
small  hours  of  the  morning.  I  have  seen  Judge 
Treat,  who  was  the  very  impersonation  of  gravity 
itself,  sit  up  till  the  last  and  laugh  until,  as  he  often 
expressed  it,  ''  he  almost  shook  his  ribs  loose.''  The 
next  day  he  would  ascend  the  bench  and  listen  to 
Lincoln  in  a  murder  trial,  with  all  the  seeming 
severity  of  an  English  judge  in  wig  and  gown. 
Amid  such  surroundings,  a  leading  figure  in  such 
society,  alternately  reciting  the  latest  effusion  of  the 
bar-room  or  mimicking  the  clownish  antics  of  the 
negro  minstrel,  he  who  was  destined  to  be  an  im- 
mortal emancipator,  was  steadily  and  unconsciously 
Hearing  the  great  trial  of  his  life.  We  shall  see 
further  on  how  this  rude  civilization  crystallized 
both  his  logic  and  his  wit  for  use  in  another  day. 

Reverting  again  to  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  lawyer,  it  is 
proper  to  add  that  he  detested  the  mechanical  work 
of  the  office.  Pie  wrote  few  papers — less  perhaps 
than  any  other  man  at  the  bar.     Such  work  was 

*  The  word  Egypt,  so  frequently  used  in  this  book,  refers  to  that 
portion  of  Illinois  which  lies  south  of  the  famous  National  Road. 


THE  LIFE   OF  LINCOLN. 


313 


usually  left  to  me  for  the  first  few  years  we  were 
together.  Afterwards  we  made  good  use  of  stu- 
dents who  came  to  learn  the  law  in  our  office. 
A  Chicago  lawyer,"*"  in  a  letter  to  me  about  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, in  1866,  says :  ''  Lincoln  once  told  me  that 
he  had  taken  you  in  as  a  partner,  supposing  you  had 
system  and  w^ould  keep  things  in  order,  but  that  he 
found  out  you  had  no  more  system  than  he  had,  but 
that  you  were  in  reality  a  good  lawyer,  so  that  he 
was  doubly  disappointed. '^  Lincoln  knew  no  such 
thing  as  order  or  method  in  his  law  practice.  He 
made  no  preparation  in  advance,  but  trusted  to  the 
hour  for  its  inspiration  and  to  Providence  for  his 
supplies.  In  the  matter  of  letter-writing  f  he 
made  no  distinction  between  one  of  a  business 
nature  or  any  other  kind.  If  a  happy  thought  or 
expression  struck  him  he  was  by  no  means  reluctant 
to  use  it.     As  early  as  1839  he  wrote  to  a  gentle- 

*  W.  C.  Whitney,  MS. 

t"I  wish  you  would  learn  of  Everett  what  he  would  take,  over 
and  above  a  discharge,  for  all  trouble  we  have  been  at  to  take  his 
business  out  of  our  hands  and  give  it  to  somebody  else.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  collect  money  on  that  or  any  other  claim  here,  now,  and 
although  you  know  I  am  not  a  very  petulant  man,  I  declare  that  I 
am  almost  out  of  patience  with  Mr.  Everett's  endless  importunities. 
It  seems  like  he  not  only  writes  all  the  letters  he  can  himself,  but  he 
gets  everybody  else  in  Louisville  and  vicinity  to  be  constantly  writing 
to  us  about  his  claim.  I  have  always  said  that  Mr.  Everett  is  a  very 
v'^lever  fellow,  and  I  am  very  sorry  he  cannot  be  obliged;  but  it  does 
seem  to  me  he  ought  to  know  we  are  interested  to  collect  his  claim, 
and  therefore  would  do  it  if  we  could.  I  am  neither  joking  nor  in  a 
pet  when  I  say  we  would  thank  him  to  transfer  his  business  to  some 
other,  without  any  compensation  for  what  we  have  done,  provided  he 
will  see  the  court  costs  paid  for  which  we  are  security." — MS.  letter 
to  Joshua  F.  Speed,  March  27,  1842. 


314  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

man  about  a  matter  of  business,  observing  crustily 

that  "  a  d d  hawk-billed  Yankee  is  here  besetting 

me  at  every  turn  I  take,  saying  that  Robert  Kenzie 
never  received  the  $80  to  which  he  was  entitled/' 
In  July,  185 1,  he  wrote  a  facetious  message  to  one  of 
his  clients,  saying :  "  I  have  news  from  Ottawa  that 
we  win  our  case.  As  the  Dutch  justice  said  when 
he  married  folks,  '  Now  where  ish  my  hundred  tol- 
lars/  ''  *  He  was  proverbially  careless  as  to  habits. 
In  a  letter  to  a  fellow-lawyer  in  another  town,  apolo- 
gizing for  failure  to  answer  sooner,  he  explains : 
''  First,  I  have  been  very  busy  in  the  United  States 
Court;  second,  when  I  received  the  letter  I  put  it 
in  my  old  hat  and  buying  a  new  one  the  next  day 
the  old  one  was  set  aside,  and  so  the  letter  was  lost 
sight  of  for  a  time."  This  hat  of  Lincoln's — a  silk 
plug — was  an  extraordinary  receptacle.  It  was  his 
desk  and  his  memorandum-book.     In  it  he  carried 

*  The  following  unpublished  letter  in  possession  of  C.  F.  Gunther, 

Esq.,  Chicago,  Ills.,  shows  how  he  proposed  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the 

office  of  Clerk  of  the  United  States  Court.     It  reads  like  the  letter 

of  a  politician  in  the  midst  of  a  canvass  for  office: 

"Springfield,  III.,  December  6, 1854. 
"Hon.  Justice  McLean. 

"Sir:  I  understand  it  is  in  contemplation  to  displace  the  present 
Clerk  and  appoint  a  new  one  for  the  Circuit  and  District  Courts  of 
Illinois.  I  am  very  friendly  to  the  present  incumbent,  and  both  for 
his  own  sake  and  that  of  his  family,  I  wish  him  to  be  retained  so 
long  as  it  is  possible  for  the  Court  to  do  so. 

"In  the  contingency  of  his  removal,  however,  I  have  recommended 
William  Butler  as  his  successor,  and  I  do  not  wish  what  I  write  now 
to  be  taken  as  any  abatement  of  that  recommendation. 

"William  J.  Black  is  also  an  applicant  for  the  appointment,  and  I 
write  this  at  the  solicitation  of  his  friends  to  say  that  he  is  every 
way  worthy  of  the  office,  and  that  I  doubt  not  the  conferring  it  upon 
him  will  give  great  satisfaction.  «  Your  ob't  servant, 

"A.  Lincoln." 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  njt 

his  bank-book  and  the  bulk  of  his  letters.  When- 
ever in  his  reading  or  researches  he  wished  to  pre- 
serve an  idea,  he  jotted  it  down  on  an  envelope  or 
stray  piece  of  paper  and  placed  it  inside  the  lining. 
Afterwards  when  the  memorandum  was  needed 
there  was  only  one  place  to  look  for  it.* 

How  Lincoln  appeared  and  acted  in  the  law  office 
has  been  graphically  and,  I  must  confess,  truthfully 
told  by  a  gentleman  now  in  New  York,  who  was  for 
several  years  a  student  in  our  ofifice.  I  beg  to  quote 
a  few  lines  from  him :  ''  My  brother  met  Mr.  Lin- 
coln in  Ottawa,  111.,  f  one  day,  and  said  to  him :  '  I 
have  a  brother  whom  I  would  very  much  like  to 
have  enter  your  office  as  a  student.'  '  All  right ! '  was 
his  reply ;  '  send  him  down  and  we  will  take  a  look 
at  him.'  I  was  then  studying  law  at  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.,  and  on  hearing  from  my  brother  I  imme- 
diately packed  up  and  started  for  Springfield.  I 
arrived  there  on  Saturday  night.  On  Sunday  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  pointed  out  to  me.  I  well  remember 
this  first  sight  of  him.  He  was  striding  along,  hold- 
ing little  Tad,  then  about  six  years  old,  by  the  hand, 
who  could  with  the  greatest  difficulty  keep  up  with 
his  father.    In  the  morning  I  applied  at  the  office  of 

*  Lincoln  had  always  on  the  top  of  our  desk  a  bundle  of  papers 
into  which  he  sHpped  anything  he  wished  to  keep  and  afterwards  re- 
fer to.  It  was  a  receptacle  of  general  information.  Some  years  ago, 
on  removing  the  furniture  from  the  office,  I  took  down  the  bundle 
and  blew  from  the  top  the  liberal  coat  of  dust  that  had  accumulated 
thereon.  Immediately  underneath  the  string  was  a  slip  bearing  this 
endorsement,  in  his  hand:  ''When  you  can't  find  it  anywhere  else, 
look  in  this." 

t  John  H.  Littlefield,  Brooklyn  Eagle,  October  i6,  1887. 


3i6 


THE  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN. 


Lincoln  and  Herndon  for  admission  as  a  student 
The  office  was  on  the  second  floor  of  a  brick  building 
on  the  public  square,  opposite  the  court-house. 
You  went  up  one  flight  of  stairs  and  then  passed 
along  a  hallway  to  the  rear  office,  which  was  a 
medium-sized  room.  There  was  one  long  table  in 
the  center  of  the  room,  and  a  shorter  one  running 
in  the  opposite  direction,  forming  a  T,  and  both 
were  covered  with  green  baize.  There  were  two 
windows  which  looked  into  the  back  yard.  In  one 
corner  was  an  old-fashioned  secretary  with  pigeon- 
holes and  a  drawer,  and  here  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his 
partner  kept  their  law  papers.  There  was  also  a 
book-case  containing  about  200  volumes  of  law  as 
well  as  miscellaneous  books.  The  morning  I  en- 
tered the  office  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  partner,  Mr. 
Herndon,  were  both  present.  Mr.  Lincoln  addressed 
his  partner  thus :  '  Billy,  this  is  the  young  man  of 
whom  I  spoke  to  you.  Whatever  arrangement  you 
make  with  him  will  be  satisfactory  to  me.'  Then, 
turning  to  me,  he  said,  '  I  hope  you  will  not  become 
so  enthusiastic  in  your  studies  of  Blackstone  and 
Kent  as  did  two  young  men  whom  we  had  here. 
Do  you  see  that  spot  over  there?'  pointing  to  a 
large  ink  stain  on  the  wall.  '  Well,  one  of  these 
young  men  got  so  enthusiastic  in  his  pursuit  of  legal 
lore  that  he  fired  an  inkstand  at  the  other  one's 
head,  and  that  is  the  mark  he  made.'  I  immediately 
began  to  clean  up  about  the  office  a  little.  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  been  in  Congress  and  had  the  usual 
amount  of  seeds  to  distribute  to  the  farmers.  These 
were  sent  out  with  Free  Soil  and  Republican  docu- 


THE  LIFE  OF   LINCOLN.  ^ly 

ments.  In  my  efforts  to  clean  up,  I  found  that 
some  of  the  seeds  had  sprouted  in  the  dirt  that  had 
collected  in  the  office.  Judge  Logan  and  Milton 
Hay  occupied  the  front  offices  on  the  same  floor 
with  Lincoln  and  Herndon,  and  one  day  Mr.  Hay 
came  in  and  said  with  apparent  astonishment: 
'What's  happened  here?'  'Oh,  nothing,'  replied 
Lincoln,  pointing  to  me,  '  only  this  young  man  has 
been  cleaning  up  a  little.'  One  of  Lincoln's  striking 
characteristics  was  his  simplicity,  and  nowhere  was 
this  trait  more  strikingly  exhibited  than  in  his 
willingness  to  receive  instruction  from  anybody  and 
everybody.  One  day  he  came  into  the  office  and 
addressing  his  partner,  said :  '  Billy,  what's  the 
meaning  of  antithesis?  '  Mr.  Herndon  gave  him  the 
definition  of  the  word,  and  I  said :  '  Mr.  Lincoln,  if 
you  will  allow  me,  I  will  give  you  an  example.'  '  All 
right,  John,  go  ahead,'  said  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  hearty 
manner.  '  Phillips  says,  in  his  essay  on  Napoleon, 
"  A  pretended  patriot,  he  impoverished  the  country ; 
a  professed  Catholic,  he  imprisoned  the  Pope,"  '  etc. 
Mr.  Lincoln  thanked  me  and  seemed  very  much 
pleased.  Returning  from  off  the  circuit  once  he 
said  to  Mr.  Herndon :  *  Billy,  I  heard  a  good  story 

while  I  was  up  in  the  country.     Judge  D was 

complimenting  the  landlord  on  the  excellence  of 
his  beef.  ''  I  am  surprised,"  he  said,  ''  that  you  have 
such  good  beef.  You  must  have  to  kill  a  whole 
critter  when  you  want  any."  ''  Yes,"  said  the  land- 
lord, ''  we  never  kill  less  than  a  whole  critter." 

"  Lincoln's     favorite     position     when     unravelling 
some  knotty  law  point  was  to  stretch  both  of  his 


3i8 


THE  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN, 


legs  at  full  length  upon  a  chair  in  front  of  him.  In 
this  position,  with  books  on  the  table  near  by  and 
in  his  lap,  he  worked  up  his  case.  No  matter  how 
deeply  interested  in  his  work,  if  any  one  came  in  he 
had  something  humorous  and  pleasant  to  say,  and 
usually  wound  up  by  telling  a  joke  or  an  anecdote. 
I  have  heard  him  relate  the  same  story  three  times 
within  as  many  hours  to  persons  who  came  in  at 
different  periods,  and  every  time  he  laughed  as 
heartily  and  enjoyed  it  as  if  it  were  a  new  story. 
His  humor  was  infectious.  I  had  to  laugh  because 
I  thought  it  funny  that  Mr.  Lincoln  enjoyed  a  story 
so  repeatedly  told. 

'"  There  was  no  order  in  the  office  at  all.  The  firm 
of  Lincoln  and  Herndon  kept  no  books.  They 
divided  their  fees  without  taking  any  receipts  or 
making  any  entries  on  books.  One  day  Mr.  Lin- 
coln received  $5000  as  a  fee  in  a  railroad  case.  He 
came  in  and  said :  '  Well,  Billy,'  addressing  his 
partner,  Mr.  Herndon,  '  here  is  our  fee ;  sit  down 
and  let  me  divide.'  He  counted  out  $2,500  to  his 
partner,  and  gave  it  to  him  with  as  much  nonchalance 
as  he  would  have  given  a  few  cents  for  a  paper. 
Cupidity  had  no  abiding  place  in  his  nature. 

''  I  took  a  good  deal  of  pains  in  getting  up  a  speech 
w^hich  I  wanted  to  deliver  during  a  political  cam- 
paign. I  told  Mr.  Lincoln  that  I  would  like  to 
read  it  to  him.  He  sat  down  in  one  chair,  put  his 
feet  into  another  one,  and  said :  *  John,  you  can  fire 
away  with  that  speech ;  I  guess  I  can  stand  it.'  I 
unrolled  the  manuscript,  and  proceeded  with  some 
trepidation.    '  That's  a  good  point,  John,'  he  would 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  -jig 

say,  at  certain  places,  and  at  others :  '  That's  good 
— very  good  indeed,'  until  I  felt  very  much  elated 
over  my  effort.  I  delivered  the  speech  over  fifty 
times  during  the  campaign.  Elmer  E.  Ellsworth, 
afterwards  colonel  of  the  famous  Zouaves,  who  was 
killed  in  xA.lexandria,  early  in  the  war,  was  nominally 
a  student  in  Lincoln's  office.  His  head  was  so  full 
of  military  matters,  however,  that  he  thought 
little  of  law.  Of  Ellsworth,  Lincoln  said :  '  That 
young  man  has  a  real  genius  for  war ! '  " 

During  the  six  years  following  his  retirement 
from  Congress,  Lincoln,  realizing  in  a  marked 
degree  his  want  of  literary  knowledge,  extended 
somewhat  his  research  in  that  direction.  He  was 
naturally  indisposed  to  undertake  anything  that 
savored  of  exertion,  but  his  brief  public  career  had 
exposed  the  limited  area  of  his  literary  attainments. 
Along  with  his  Euclid  therefore  he  carried  a  well- 
worn  copy  of  Shakespeare,  in  which  he  read  no  lit- 
tle in  his  leisure  moments.  ''  In  travelling  on  the 
circuit,"  relates  one  of  his  associates  at  the  bar,* 
'''  he  was  in  the  habit  of  rising  earlier  than  his  broth- 
ers of  the  bar.  On  such  occasions  he  was  wont  to 
sit  by  the  fire,  having  uncovered  the  coals,  and  muse, 
and  ponder,  and  soliloquize,  inspired,  no  doubt,  by 
that  strange  psychological  influence  which  is  so 
poetically  described  by  Poe  in  'The  Raven.'  On 
one  of  these  occasions,  at  the  town  of  Lincoln,  sit- 
ting in  the  position  described,  he  quoted  aloud  and 
at  length  the  poem  called  '  Immortality.'     When  he 

*  Lawrence  Weldon,  letter,  Feb.  lo,  1866,  MS. 


320  '^^^  ^^^^   ^^   LINCOLN, 

had  finished  he  was  questioned  as  to  the  authorship 
and  where  it  could  be  found.  He  had  forgotten 
the  author,  but  said  that  to  him  it  sounded  as 
much  like  true  poetry  as  anything  he  had  ever 
heard.  He  was  particularly  pleased  with  the  last 
two  stanzas." 

Beyond  a  limited  acquaintance  with  Shakespeare, 
Byron,  and  Burns,  Mr.  Lincoln,  comparatively 
speaking,  had  no  knowledge  of  literature.  He  was 
familiar  with  the  Bible,  and  now  and  then  evinced  a 
fancy  for  some  poem  or  short  sketch  to  which 
his  attention  was  called  by  some  one  else,  or 
which  he  happened  to  run  across  in  his  cursory 
reading  of  books  or  newspapers.  He  never  in  his 
life  sat  down  and  read  a  book  through,  and  yet  he 
could  readily  quote  any  number  of  passages  from 
the  few  volumes  whose  pages  he  had  hastily 
scanned.  In  addition  to  his  well-known  love  for  the 
poem  ''  Immortality  "  or  ''  Why  should  the  Spirit  of 
Mortal  be  Proud,"  he  always  had  a  great  fondness 
for  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes'  "  Last  Leaf,"  the  fourth 
stanza  of  which,  beginning  with  the  verse,  "  The 
mossy  marbles  rest,"  I  have  often  heard  him  repeat. 
He  once  told  me  of  a  song  a  young  lady  had  sung 
in  his  hearing  at  a  time  when  he  was  laboring  under 
some  dejection  of  spirits.  The  lines  struck  his 
fancy,  and  although  he  did  not  know  the  singer—- 
having  heard  her  from  the  sidewalk  as  he  passed 
her  house — he  sent  her  a  request  to  write  the  lines 
out  for  him.  Within  a  day  or  two  he  came  into  the 
office,  carrying  in  his  hand  a  delicately  perfumed 
envelope  which  bore  the  address,  ''  Mr.  Lincoln — 


THE  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN.  221 

Present,"  in  an  unmistakable  female  hand.  In  it, 
written  on  gilt-edged  paper,  were  the  lines  of  the 
song.  The  plaintive  strain  of  the  piece  and  its 
melancholy  sentiment  struck  a  responsive  chord  in 
a  heart  already  filled  with  gloom  and  sorrow. 
Though  ill-adapted  to  dissipate  one's  depression, 
something  about  it  charmed  Lincoln,  and  he  read 
and  re-read  it  with  increasing  relish.  I  had  for- 
gotten the  circumstance  until  recently,  when,  in 
going  over  some  old  papers  and  letters  turned  over 
to  me  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  ran  across  the  manuscript, 
and  the  incident  was  brought  vividly  to  my  mind. 
The  envelope,  still  retaining  a  faint  reminder  of  the 
perfumed  scent  given  it  thirty  years  before,  bore 
the  laconic  endorsement,  ''  Poem — I  like  this,''  in 
the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Unfortunately  no 
name  accompanied  the  manuscript,  and  unless  the 
lady  on  seeing  this  chooses  to  make  herself  known, 
we  shall  probably  not  learn  who  the  singer  was. 
The  composition  is  headed,  ''  The  Enquiry."  I 
leave  it  to  my  musical  friends  to  render  it  into 
song.     Following  are  the  lines : 

'Tell  me,  ye  winged  winds 
That  round  my  pathway  roar, 
Do  ye  not  know  some  spot 
Where  mortals  weep  no  more? 
Some  lone  and  pleasant  vale 
Some  valley  in  the  West, 
Where,  free  from  toil  and  pain, 
The  weary  soul  may  rest? 
The  loud  wind  dwindled  to  a  whisper  low. 
And  sighed  for  pity  as  it  answered,  No. 


322  ^-^^  L^F^   OF   LINCOLN. 

**Tell  me,  thou  mighty  deep, 
Whose  billows  round  me  play, 
Know'st  thou  some  favored  spot, 
Some  island  far  away, 
Where  weary  man  may  find 
The  bliss  for  which  he  sighs; 
Where  sorrow  never  lives 
And  friendship  never  dies? 
The  loud  waves  rolling  in  perpetual  flow 
Stopped  for  awhile  and  sighed  to  answer,  Nc 

**And  thou,  serenest  moon, 
That  with  such  holy  face 
Dost  look  upon  the  Earth 
Asleep  in  Night's  embrace — 
Tell  me,  in  all  thy  round 
Hast  thou  not  seen  some  spot 
Where  miserable  man 
Might  find  a  happier  lot? 
Behind  a  cloud  the  moon  withdrew  in  woe. 
And  a  voice  sweet  but  sad  responded.  No. 

**Tell  me,  my  secret  soul, 
Oh,  tell  me,  Hope  and  Faith, 
Is  there  no  resting-place 
From  sorrow,  sin,  and  death? 
Is  there  no  happy  spot 
Where  mortals  may  be  blessed. 
Where  grief  may  find  a  balm 
And  weariness  a  rest? 

Faith,  Hope,  and  Love,  best  boon  to  mortals  given, 
Waved  their  bright  v^ngs  and  whispered.  Yes,  in  Heaven."* 

Judge  S.  H.  Treat,  recently  deceased,  thus  de- 

*  Persons  familiar  with  literature  will  recognize  this  as  a  poem 
written  by  Charles  Mackay,  an  English  writer  who  represented  a 
London  newspaper  in  the  United  States  during  the  Rebellion  as  its 
war  correspondent.  It  was  set  to  music  as  a  chanty  and  as  such  was 
frequently  rendered  in  public  by  the  famous  Hutchinson  family  of 
singers.     I  doubt  if  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  knew  who  wrote  it. 


THE  LIFE   OF  LINCOLN,  323 

scribes  Lincoln's  first  appearance  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois.  ''  A  case  being  called  for  hearing, 
Mr.  Lincoln  stated  that  he  appeared  for  the  appel- 
lant and  was  ready  to  proceed  with  the  argument. 
He  then  said :  '  This  is  the  first  case  I  have  ever 
had  in  this  court,  and  I  have  therefore  examined  it 
with  great  care.  As  the  Court  will  perceive  by 
looking  at  the  abstract  of  the  record,  the  only  ques- 
tion in  the  case  is  one  of  authority.  I  have  not 
been  able  to  find  any  authority  to  sustain  my  side 
of  the  case,  but  I  have  found  several  cases  directly 
in  point  on  the  other  side.  I  will  now  give  these 
authorities  to  the  court,  and  then  submit  the  case.'' 

A  lawyer  in  Beardstown  relates  this :  *  "  Lincoln 
came  into  my  office  one  day  with  the  remark :  '  I 
see  youVe  been  suing  some  of  my  clients,  and  Fve 
come  down  to  see  about  it.'  He  had  reference 
to  a  suit  I  had  brought  to  enforce  the  specific  per- 
formance of  a  contract.  I  explained  the  case  to 
him,  and  showed  my  proofs.  He  seemed  surprised 
that  I  should  deal  so  frankly  with  him,  and  said  he 
would  be  as  frank  with  me;  that  my  client  was 
justly  entitled  to  a  decree,  and  he  should  so  repre- 
sent it  to  the  court;  and  that  it  was  against  his 
principles  to  contest  a  clear  matter  of  right.  So  my 
client  got  a  deed  for  a  farm  which,  had  another 
lawyer  been  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  place,  would  have 
been  consumed  by  the  costs  of  litigation  for  years, 
with  the  result  probably  the  same  in  the  end."  A 
young  man  once  wrote  to  Lincoln,  enquiring  for  the 

»        I  V - 

*  J.  Henry  Shaw,  letter,  June  13,  1866,  MS. 


324  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  LINCOLN. 

best  mode  of  obtaining  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  law.  ''  The  mode  is  very  simple/'  he  responded, 
"  though  laborious  and  tedious.  It  is  only  to  get 
books  and  read  and  study  them  carefully.  Begin 
with  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  and  after  reading 
carefully  through,  say  twice,  take  up  Chitty's 
Pleadings,  Greenleafs  Evidence,  and  Story's 
Equity  in  succession.  Work,  work,  work,  is  the 
main  thing."  "^ 

Lincoln  never  believed  in  suing  for  a  fee.  If  a 
client  would  not  pay  on  request  he  never  sought  to 
enforce  collection.  I  remember  once  a  man  who 
had  been  indicted  for  forgery  or  fraud  employed  us 
to  defend  him.  The  illness  of  the  prosecuting 
attorney  caused  some  delay  in  the  case,  and  our 
client,  becoming  dissatisfied  at  our  conduct  of  the 
case,  hired  some  one  else,  who  superseded  us  most 
effectually.  The  defendant  declining  to  pay  us  the 
fee  demanded,  on  the  ground  that  we  had  not  rep- 
resented him  at  the  trial  of  the  cause,  I  brought 
suit  against  him  in  Lincoln's  absence  and  obtained 
judgment  for  our  fee.  After  Lincoln's  return  from 
the  circuit  the  fellow  hunted  him  up  and  by  means 
of  a  carefully  constructed  tale  prevailed  on  him  to 
release  the  judgment  without  receiving  a  cent  of 
pay.  The  man's  unkind  treatment  of  us  deserved 
no  such  mark  of  generosity  from  Lincoln,  and  yet 
he  could  not  resist  the  appeal  of  any  one  in 
poverty  and  want.  He  could  never  turn  from  a 
woman  in  tears.     It  was  no  surprise  to  me  or  any 

*  Letter  to  J.  M.  Brockman,  Sept.  25,  1859,  MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


325 


of  his  intimate  friends  that  so  many  designing 
women  with  the  conventional  widows'  weeds  and 
easy-flowing  tears  overcame  him  in  Washington. 
It  was  difficult  for  him  to  detect  an  impostor,  and 
hence  it  is  not  to  be  marvelled  at  that  he  cau- 
tioned his  secretaries :  "  Keep  them  away — I  can- 
not stand  it/' 

On  many  questions  I  used  to  grow  somewhat 
enthusiastic,  adopting  sometimes  a  lofty  metaphor 
by  way  of  embellishment.  Lincoln  once  warned 
nae :  '*  Billy,  don't  shoot  too  high — aim  lower  and 
the  common  people  will  understand  you.  They  are 
the  ones  you  want  to  reach — at  least  they  are  the 
ones  you  ought  to  reach.  The  educated  and  re- 
fined people  will  understand,  you  any  way.  If  you 
aim  too  high  your  ideas  will  go  over  the  heads  of  the 
masses,  and  only  hit  those  who  need  no  hitting." 
While  it  is  true  that  from  his  peculiar  construction 
Lincoln  dwelt  entirely  in  the  head  and  in  the  land 
of  thought,  and  while  he  was  physically  a  lazy  man, 
yet  he  was  intellectually  energetic ;  he  was  not  only 
energetic,  but  industrious;  not  only  industrious,  but 
tireless;  not  only  tireless,  but  indefatigable.  There- 
fore if  in  debate  with  him  a  man  stood  on  a 
questionable  foundation  he  might  well  watch  where- 
on he  stood.  Lincoln  could  look  a  long  distance 
ahead  and  calculate  the  triumph  of  right.  With 
him  justice  and  truth  were  paramount.  If  to  him 
a  thing  seemed  untrue  he  could  not  in  his  nature 
simulate  truth.  His  retention  by  a  man  to  defend 
a  lawsuit  did  not  prevent  him  from  throwing  it  up 
in   its   most   critical   stage  if  he   believed  he  was 


326 


THE  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN, 


espousing  an  unjust  cause.  This  extreme  conscien- 
tiousness and  disregard  of  the  alleged  sacredness 
of  the  professional  cloak  robbed  him  of  much  so- 
called  success  at  the  bar.  He  once  wrote  to  one  of 
our  clients :  ''  I  do  not  think  there  is  the  least  use 
of  doing  anything  more  with  your  lawsuit.  I  not 
only  do  not  think  you  are  sure  to  gain  it,  but  I  do 
think  you  are  sure  to  lose  it.  Therefore  the  sooner 
it  ends  the  better.''  *  Messrs.  Stuart  and  Edwards 
once  brought  a  suit  against  a  client  of  ours  which 
involved  the  title  to  considerable  property.  At 
that  time  we  had  only  two  or  three  terms  of  court, 
and  the  docket  was  somewhat  crowded.  The  plain- 
tiff's attorneys  were  pressing  us  for  a  trial,  and  we 
were  equally  as  anxious  to  ward  it  off.  What  we 
wanted  were  time  and  a  continuance  to  the  next 
term.  We  dared  not  make  an  affidavit  for  contin- 
uance, founded  on  facts,  because  no  such  pertinent 
and  material  facts  as  the  law  contemplated  existed. 
Our  case  for  the  time  seemed  hopeless.  One  morn- 
ing, however,  I  accidentally  overheard  a  remark 
from  Stuart  indicating  his  fear  lest  a  certain  fact 
should  happen  to  come  into  our  possession.  I  felt 
some  relief,  and  at  once  drew  up  a  fictitious  plea, 
averring  as  best  I  could  the  substance  of  the 
doubts  I  knew  existed  in  Stuart's  mind.  The 
plea  was  as  skilfully  drawn  as  I  knew  how,  and 
was  framed  as  if  we  had  the  evidence  to  sustain 
it.  The  whole  thing  was  a  sham,  but  so  con- 
structed   as     to    work    the    desired     continuance, 

*  Letter  to  H.  Keeling,  Esq.,  March  3, 1858,  MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN, 


327 


because  I  knew  that  Stuart  and  Edwards  believed 
the  facts  were  as  I  pleaded  them.  This  was  done 
in  the  absence  and  without  the  knowledge  of  Lin- 
coln. The  plea  could  not  be  demurred  to,  and  the 
opposing  counsel  dared  not  take  the  issue  on  it.  It 
perplexed  them  sorely.  At  length,  before  further 
steps  were  taken,  Lincoln  came  into  court.  He 
looked  carefully  over  all  the  papers  in  the  case,  as 
was  his  custom,  and  seeing  my  ingenious  subterfuge, 
asked,  "Is  this  seventh  plea  a  good  one?''  Proud 
of  the  exhibition  of  my  skill,  I  answered  that  it  was. 
"  But,"  he  inquired,  incredulously,  '*  is  it  founded  on 
fact  ?  "  I  was  obliged  to  respond  in  the  negative, 
at  the  same  time  following  up  my  answer  with 
an  explanation  of  what  I  had  overheard  Stuart  inti- 
mate, and  of  how  these  alleged  facts  could  be  called 
facts  if  a  certain  construction  were  put  upon  them. 
I  insisted  that  our  position  was  justifiable,  and  that 
our  client  must  have  time  or  be  ruined.  I  could  see 
at  once  it  failed  to  strike  Lincoln  as  just  right.  He 
scratched  his  head  thoughtfully  and  asked,  ''  Hadn't 
we  better  withdraw  that  plea?  You  know  it's  a 
sham,  and  a  sham  is  very  often  but  another  name 
for  a  lie.  Don't  let  it  go  on  record.  The  cursed 
thing  may  come  staring  us  in  the  face  long  after 
this  suit  has  been  forgotten."  The  plea  was  with- 
drawn. By  some  agency — not  our  own — the  case 
was  continued  and  our  client's  interests  were  saved. 
I  only  relate  this  incident  to  illustrate  Lincoln's  far- 
seeing  capacity;  it  serves  to  show  how  over-cau- 
tious he  seemed  to  be  with  regard  to  how  his  record 
might  look  in  the  future.     I  venture  the  assertion 


328  ^^^  ^^^^  OF  LINCOLN, 

that  he  was  the  only  member  of  the  bar  in  Spring- 
field who  would  have  taken  such  a  conscientious 
view  of  the  matter. 

One  phase  of  Lincoln's  character,  almost  lost 
sight  of  in  the  commonly  accepted  belief  in  his 
humility  and  kindly  feeling  under  all  circumstances, 
was  his  righteous  indignation  when  aroused.  In 
such  cases  he  was  the  most  fearless  man  I  ever 
knew.  I  remember  a  murder  case  in  which  we 
appeared  for  the  defence,  and  during  the  trial  of 
which  the  judge — a  man  of  ability  far  inferior  to 
Lincoln's — kept  ruling  against  us.  Finally,  a  very 
material  question,  in  fact  one  around  which  the  en- 
tire case  seemed  to  revolve,  came  up,  and  again  the 
Court  ruled  adversely.  The  prosecution  was  jubi- 
lant, and  Lincoln,  seeing  defeat  certain  unless  he 
recovered  his  ground,  grew  very  despondent.  The 
notion  crept  into  his  head  that  the  Court's  rulings, 
which  were  absurd  and  almost  spiteful,  were  aimed 
at  him,  and  this  angered  him  beyond  reason.  He 
told  me  of  his  feelings  at  dinner,  and  said :  "  I  have 
determined  to  crowd  the  Court  to  the  wall  and  re- 
gain my  position  before  night."  From  that  time 
forward  it  was  interesting  to  watch  him.  At  the 
reassembling  of  court  he  arose  to  read  a  few  author- 
ities in  support  of  his  position.  In  his  comments 
he  kept  within  the  bounds  of  propriety  just  far 
enough  to  avoid  a  reprimand  for  contempt  of  court. 
He  characterized  the  continued  rulings  against 
him  as  not  only  unjust  but  foolish ;  and,  figuratively 
speaking,  he  pealed  the  Court  from  head  to  foot.  I 
shall    never   forget    the    scene.      Lincoln    had    the 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 


329 


crowd,  a  portion  of  the  bar,  and  the  jury  with  him. 
He  knew  that  fact,  and  it,  together  with  the  belief 
that  injustice  had  been  done  him,  nerved  him  to  a 
feeUng  of  desperation.  He  was  wrought  up  to  the 
point  of  madness.  When  a  man  of  large  heart  and 
head  is  wrought  up  and  mad,  as  the  old  adage 
runs,  "  he's  mad  all  over.''  Lincoln  had  studied  up 
the  points  involved,  but  knowing  full  well  the 
calibre  of  the  judge,  relied  mostly  on  the  moral 
effect  of  his  personal  bearing  and  influence.  He 
was  alternately  furious  and  eloquent,  pursuing  the 
Court  with  broad  facts  and  pointed  inquiries  in 
marked  and  rapid  succession.  I  remember  he  made 
use  of  this  homely  incident  in  illustration  of  some 
point :  "  In  early  days  a  party  of  men  went  out 
hunting  for  a  wild  boar.  But  the  game  came  upon 
them  unawares,  and  scampering  away  they  all 
climbed  the  trees  save  one,  who,  seizing  the  animal 
by  the  ears,  undertook  to  hold  him,  but  despairing 
of  success  cried  out  to  his  companions  in  the  trees, 
^  For  God's  sake,  boys,  come  down  and  help  me  let 
go.'  "  The  prosecution  endeavored  to  break  him 
down  or  even  *'  head  him  off,"  but  all  to  no  pur- 
pose. His  masterly  arraignment  of  law  and  facts 
had  so  effectually  badgered  the  judge  that,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  he  pretended  to  see  the  error  in  his 
former  position,  and  finally  reversed  his  decision  in 
Lincoln's  favor.  The  latter  saw  his  triumph,  and 
surveyed  a  situation  of  which  he  was  the  master. 
His  client  was  acquitted,  and  he  had  swept  the  field. 
In  the  case  of  Parker  vs,  Hoyt,  tried  in  the  United 
States  Court  in  Chicago,  Lincoln  was  one  of  the 


330  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  LINCOLN. 

counsel  for  the  defendant.  The  suit  was  on  the 
merits  of  an  infringement  of  a  patent  water  wheel. 
The  trial  lasted  several  days  and  Lincoln  mani- 
fested great  interest  in  the  case.  In  his  earlier  days 
he  had  run,  or  aided  in  running,  a  saw-mill,  and  ex- 
plained in  his  argument  the  action  of  the  water  on 
the  wheel  in  a  manner  so  clear  and  intelligible  that 
the  jury  were  enabled  to  comprehend  the  points 
and  line  of  defence  without  the  least  difficulty.  It 
was  evident  he  had  carried  the  jury  with  him  in  a 
most  masterly  argument,  the  force  of  which  could 
not  be  broken  by  the  reply  of  the  opposing  coun- 
sel. After  the  jury  retired  he  became  very  anxious 
and  uneasy.  The  jury  were  in  another  building,  the 
windows  of  which  opened  on  the  street,  and  had  been 
out  for  some  two  hours.  ''  In  passing  along  the 
street,  one  of  the  jurors  on  whom  we  very  much 
relied,"  relates  Lincoln's  associate  in  the  case,*  "  he 
being  a  very  intelligent  man  and  firm  in  his  convic- 
tions, held  up  to  him  one  finger.  Mr.  Lincoln  be- 
came very  much  excited,  fearing  it  indicated  that 
eleven  of  the  jury  were  against  him.  He  knew  if 
this  man  was  for  him  he  would  never  yield  his  opin- 
ion. He  added,  if  he  was  like  a  juryman  he  had  in 
Tazewell  county,  the  defendant  was  safe.  He  was 
there  employed,  he  said,  to  prosecute  a  suit  for 
divorce.  His  client  was  a  pretty,  refined,  and  inter- 
esting little  woman,  and  in  court.  The  defendant, 
her  husband,  was  a  gross,  morose,  querulous,  fault- 
finding, and  uncomfortable  man,  and  entirely  unfit- 

*  Grant  Goodrich,  letter,  Nov.  9,  1866,  MS. 


THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN.  ^31 

ted  for  the  husband  of  such  a  woman ;  but  although 
he  was  able  to  prove  the  use  of  very  offensive  and 
vulgar  epithets  applied  by  the  husband  to  his  wife, 
and  all  sorts  of  annoyances,  yet  there  were  no  such 
acts  of  personal  violence  as  were  required  by  the 
statute  to  justify  a  divorce.  Lincoln  did  the  best 
he  could,  and  appealed  to  the  jury  to  have  compas- 
sion on  the  woman,  and  not  to  bind  her  to  such  a 
man  and  such  a  life  as  awaited  her  if  required  to 
live  longer  with  him.  The  jury  took  about  the 
same  view  of  it  in  their  deliberations.  They  de- 
sired to  find  for  his  fair  client,  but  could  discover 
no  evidence  which  would  really  justify  a  verdict 
for  her.  At  last  they  drew  up  a  verdict  for  the  de- 
fendant, and  all  signed  but  one  fellow,  who  on  be- 
ing approached  with  the  verdict  said,  coolly :  '  Gen- 
tlemen, I  am  going  to  lie  down  to  sleep,  and  when 
you  get  ready  to  give  a  verdict  for  that  little 
woman,  then  wake  me  and  not  until  then;  for  be- 
fore I  will  give  a  verdict  against  her  I  will  lie  here 
till  I  rot  and  the  pismires  carry  me  out  through  the 
key-hole.'  '  Now,'  observed  Lincoln,  *  if  that  jury- 
man will  stick  like  the  man  in  Tazewell  county  we 
are  safe.'  Strange  to  relate,  the  jury  did  come  in, 
and  with  a  verdict  for  the  defendant.  Lincoln 
always  regarded  this  as  one  of  the  gratifying  tri- 
umphs of  his  professional  life." 


(1) 


